Legacy of the Shadow Broker
by LuxDragon
Summary: Information. It had always been the Shadow Broker's main trade and source of power. Deception, his weapon; anonymity, his shield. To bring down his empire and avenge a friend, Liara, Shepard, and their allies must take on all forces the Shadow Broker will bring to bear to preserve his secrets. And his life. Novelization of Lair of the Shadow Broker. Poster by Carp3di3m.
1. Fortuitous Finds

_**Location: Omega Nebula / Fathar System / Lorek / Eclipse Mercenary Base**_

"_Garrus, move!"_

Without questioning him, the turian sprinted away, abandoning his cover and using his tactical cloak to disappear from sight from whatever threat Shepard had identified.

The asari Eclipse Vanguard reared her arm back and let loose a biotic shockwave. Even after Garrus vanished, the explosive blasts caught him and disabled his cloak. He crashed against some boxes and groaned.

"_Jack, take her out!"_ Shepard shouted.

"_She's mine!"_ Jack used her biotic charge to cross the distance in a blink of an eye, ramming the Vanguard and creating an explosion that tossed her against the wall hard enough to leave an impression. The follow-up shotgun blast ensured she wouldn't get up.

"_Contact right!"_ Miranda warned.

"_I got them!"_ Tali said. _"Go get them, Chiktikka! Good girl!"_

"_I got Garrus," _Jacob reported. _"He'll live."_

"_Ow… but that bitch won't. Where is she?" _Garrus grumbled angrily.

"_Sorry, buddy, but you're a bit late. Light's out for her,"_ Jack boosted.

"_Down you go!"_ Miranda said. One of the last two remaining mercs flew straight up into the ceiling, only to go right back down into the ground with bone crushing force.

The last panicked when he saw he was the only survivor. He turned and tried to run only to be impaled in the chest by Kasumi's _wakizashi_.

"_Got him," _Kasumi said as her own cloak faded away. She withdrew her short sword and cleaned the blade with a rag before sheathing it.

"_We do not detect any other hostiles, Shepard-Commander. Outside perimeter remains devoid of any units," _Legion reported.

"_Report in,"_ Shepard ordered.

"_Miranda here, I'm fine."_

"_Garrus here. I'll live."_

"_I'm good, Boss Man."_

"_Jacob here, I'm good."_

"_Kasumi and I are fine!"_

"_No damage sustained, Shepard-Commander."_

Satisfied that everyone was alright, more or less, he turned to the door at the end. _"Jacob, see to Garrus. Miranda, on me. The rest of you, sweep and secure the area."_

"_Hey, Cuttlebone? Next time: run faster."_

"_Yeah, yeah…"_

Miranda fell in step behind him as they entered the room the deep cover Cerberus operative was tortured and eventually killed in.

The room was now empty, save for Operative Tyrone Rawling's body. Whatever was left of him anyway.

After ensuring the room was secure, Miranda darted to the terminal and started typing.

"What do we got?" Shepard asked.

"A few reports from the interrogators," Miranda muttered. "It looks like he didn't break."

Shepard looked over her shoulder and read a few of the reports.

_**Report #1 – Subject ID**_

_Interrogator: Cpl. Geero_

_Subject: Cerberus Agent Tyrone Rawlings_

_Eclipse targeted Agent Rawlings some time ago. We know Rawlings is connected to the encrypted data we acquired. The data could conclusively prove Cerberus' involvement in rachni experiments. We believe Rawlings possesses a cipher that can be used to decrypt the data. Without his cipher, the data could take years for Eclipse to decode._

_**Report #2 (Subject Captured)**_

_Interrogator: Cpl. Geero_

_Subject: Cerberus Agent Tyrone Rawlings_

_Agent Rawlings proved difficult to capture. Having insinuated himself on a ship bound for the Attican Traverse, he had won over the loyalty of the ship's crew who believed him to be a human dignitary on a mission of discovery. Our own agents managed to disable the ship and hobble its defenses long enough to extract Agent Rawlings._

_We lost a lot of men to obtain this asset. This data had better be worth the expense._

_**Report #3 (Subject Interrogated)**_

_Interrogator: Cpl. Geero_

_Subject: Cerberus Agent Tyrone Rawlings_

_The interrogation has failed. Despite some of our most advanced interrogation techniques, Agent Rawlings managed to evade our questions. When we applied more invasive methods, he proved resistant to those as well. Eventually Agent Rawlings' resistance caused tempers to flare. We consider it unfortunate that Agent Rawlings did not live to pass on the cipher._

_We have men working to decipher the encryption now. As long as we control this data, its mere existence remains a powerful tool against Cerberus._

After reading through the major reports, Shepard walked over to the body and closed Rawling's eyes. Despite being a Cerberus agent, the Spectre found himself respecting the man all the same. The torture he must've undergone would've broken most, yet he endured and kept the information out of enemy hands. It was worth offering a little dignity.

"Shepard. I found it," Miranda finally said. She typed furiously on the computer and downloaded the information into an OSD.

"Is there anything you can use?"

"No, it's heavily encrypted," she answered with a frown. "And I'm not familiar with this brand of encryption either."

"According to the Eclipse reports, Rawling was the only one with the cypher," he said. "Can EDI break it?"

"She would have more success than I would at least," she said. She started downloading the information to an OSD. "Doesn't matter. With everything Jacob and I know combined with this, the Illusive Man will know that he can't cross us now. It'll hurt him too much to try."

"Are you sure?" Shepard asked.

"He's not a man that takes things personally, though he does conduct reprisals against attacks to Cerberus or himself. What we did counts as both," Miranda said as she checked the computer for anything else of value.

"So you don't think he's pissed that I basically told him to go hell?" Shepard asked.

"I think you have a knack for pushing buttons," she said. She pocketed the OSD and turned away from the computer to regard him fully. "At the very least, I can guarantee Oriana's safety now. At least from Cerberus. But she won't be protected anymore if my father tries anything."

"One problem at a time, but we'll definitely work on that," he said. He tapped into his radio. "Alright. Everyone, regroup! Hawthorne, we need a pick up."

"_Aye, aye, Captain. En route now."_

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Normandy SR-2 / En Route to Serpent Nebula / Widow System / Citadel**_

"_Shepard? I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I need to speak with you."_

Shepard groaned softly and opened one eye in a squint. "EDI?" he whispered.

"_There's something I need to discuss with you. I believe it's important,"_ EDI said via radio.

His cochlear implants allowed for radio transmissions to go straight into his ear canal without the need for cumbersome radio equipment. It was standard for any military personal in the galaxy, whether it was Alliance, Turian military, Asari Commandos or Salarian Special Tasks Groups. Mercenaries, private security, and even some civilians undergo the surgery for the same benefits as well.

Sighing, he planted a feather-light kiss on Miranda's temple and gently extracted himself from her arms. She subconsciously moaned at the sudden loss of heat and pulled the blankets tighter around her. Smiling down at her for a moment, he turned away and padded over to his terminal before sagging down on the seat. "What's up?" he asked quietly as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"_In regards to your last mission, I have logged and begun decryption of the data you recovered on Lorek._ _Preliminary data show that the information pertains to illicit operations in which Cerberus was involved over the past five years. Should this information be released, it could severely hinder Cerberus' ability to operate openly in the galaxy. It will take me a year or more to completely decrypt this information."_

"Okay. I thought it might be too easy to get anyway," he muttered. He sighed and propped his elbow on his desk with his chin resting in his hand. "At the very least, the Illusive Man will need to watch his step around us now. Hopefully that'll keep him off our backs so we can put our focus on the Reapers."

He picked up a datapad from his table and studied the image on it for the umpteenth time. So far, it was the one valuable nugget of data EDI had mined from the Collector databases nearly one month ago. It was Harbinger, not as a possessed Collector, but the actual, physical form of Harbinger in its full form as a Reaper. From the scarce information the diagrams offered, it was enormous and far larger than Sovereign had been.

It made him wonder if Harbinger was the one in charge or if there was something even greater behind it.

To make matters worse, the last set of transmissions EDI managed to snag before their last second escape from the doomed Collector base, the Reapers were now on the move, flying out from dark space and making their way into their galaxy.

It was only a matter of time, but the question was: How much time did they have?

"Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?" Shepard whispered. He put the datapad back down and yawned.

"_No. The main reason I woke you was that I've found something of extreme interest in__ my download of the Collector's databanks from their base."_

Waking up a little more, he sat up a bit straighter and waited for EDI to drop the next bit of news.

"_As you know, the Collectors contacted the Shadow Broker to retrieve your body. What is interesting was that the Collectors, or perhaps even the Reapers, were equally interested in the Shadow Broker as well."_

"Really? Why?"

"_I do not have enough information to answer that question. Perhaps the Collectors were interested in the information network the Shadow Broker utilizes and sought to use it for their own ends to find you. Or perhaps they would seek to use the Shadow Broker's resources to facilitate the return of the Reapers. I cannot say for certain."_

"What do they have on him so far?" Shepard asked intently. He turned to his terminal when EDI displayed all the information she had. His eyes widened at the sheer number of intel the Collectors had gathered.

"_They have compiled a dossier on him as well as any known agents and current operations. As you can see, their information is rather robust, easily dwarfing what any government, or even what Cerberus possessed on the Shadow Broker,"_ EDI briefed._ "They have even attempted to locate his base of operations. Our attack and subsequent destruction of the Collector base has obviously derailed any further information."_

"Is there anything we can use?" Shepard asked.

"_There is a possible lead,"_ EDI announced. _"However, the information is of great importance to your former squad mate, Dr. Liara T'Soni than to us. It concerns a former contact of hers: Feron."_

_Liara…_

Shepard remembered the last time he was on Illium. Out of all the people he travelled with in his hunt for Saren, Liara had probably changed the most. When he first met her, she was shy, introverted, and socially awkward. Being only 108 or so years old, she was considered a child by asari standards. However, during their brief time together, she grew to become a force to be reckoned with. Given the difficulty of their mission, not to mention her personal stake after the tragic loss of her mother, Matriarch Benezia, she had cultivated her biotic abilities all by herself to find a strength that she probably never knew she had.

Their mission against Saren, the heretics, and discovering the fate of the protheans at the hands of the Reapers was not one for the soft. It was a long, hard, fight that had more than its share of pain and sacrifice. Through it all, Liara did well. She pushed herself as hard as everyone else did on the old squad, despite never undergoing any formal military training.

Not long after he was pronounced 'killed in action', she scoured the galaxy looking for his remains. Considering her archeological background, it should have been easy, but what turned out to be a simple search ended up being a race with his body as the prize. The Collectors had contracted the Shadow Broker to recover his body. The Shadow Broker hired the Blue Suns to do the leg work. And Liara had agreed to work with Miranda –and by proxy, Cerberus– to recover his remains for the Lazarus Project.

Feron was a drell Liara had teamed up with in her quest to find him. Despite being an agent of the Shadow Broker himself, Feron helped Liara at the cost of his own life.

And that was the catalyst that triggered Liara's current vendetta against the Shadow Broker.

"John?"

Shepard jerked up and turned his head to see Miranda staring down at him. She was rubbing eyes and trying to shake off the drowsiness of disturbed sleep as she padded over to him clad only in her nightgown.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. Are you okay?"

He nodded and rubbed his eyes again before yawning. "I'm fine. I didn't mean to wake you."

She shrugged it off and ran a hand through her messy hair in a fruitless attempt to tame it. "I'm used to late nights and early hours, either for professional or…" she said before shooting him a sly smile, and purring out, "… personal reasons."

Shepard grinned for a moment before turning serious. "EDI and I were talking."

"She already decrypted the information?" Miranda asked in mild surprise.

"No. She found information about the Shadow Broker," he answered. He pointed at his terminal.

"The Shadow Broker…?" she repeated and leaned over his shoulder to observe the data herself.

"EDI thinks they might've been looking for him. The Collectors were interested in his information network," Shepard added. He turned his head slightly and was treated to her alluring scent. He smiled faintly when her mussed raven hair tickled his nose.

"Information is a powerful weapon. And if the Collectors seized control of the Shadow Broker's assets, there's no telling how devastating the collateral damage would be. Either they could launch a disinformation campaign to disavow all knowledge of the Reapers, or cause wars that would allow the Reapers to swoop in without resistance… even convince people that the Reapers might be coming in peace or as gods or some such," Miranda murmured thoughtfully. Her eyes locked onto a picture of a drell and she put one of her hands on Shepard's shoulder while she pointed at the picture with the other. "Wait, that's…"

"Feron," Shepard finished. He reached up and clasped her hand. "You know him?"

"We met briefly. The Blue Suns had taken your body and Feron was our best chance to get you back," she answered. "After Liara succeeded and turned you over to me, she went on her own mission to find out what happened to him."

"You never knew what had happened to Feron?"

She shook her head. "I presumed he was KIA. Even if he was still alive, it meant more to Liara than to me," Miranda replied before slipping out of his grasp and wrapping her arms around his neck from behind. She rested her head on his shoulder, leaning slightly so they were cheek-to-cheek. "Besides, I was preparing the Lazarus Project, remember? The two years it took to get you up and about, hmm?"

Leaning back into her embrace, he smiled fully and closed his eyes. "Oh, I remember. And you do like to remind me of that, don't you?"

"Only once or twice. I have to make sure your ego is kept in check," she quipped. "So what now?"

"Course change. It's Hawthorne's shift, right?"

"Mmm-hmm. Although that might mean EDI's the one flying," she affirmed. Her hands traced random patterns on his bare chest which was causing all sorts of random thoughts to pop up in his head. "That's a shame though. I was looking forward to dining at my favorite sushi place."

"You have a favorite sushi place on the Citadel?"

She nodded. "Fresh ingredients delivered from Earth daily as well as a few exotic species from other planets. They have a beautiful aquarium too."

"Sorry that we won't get to wine and dine there."

"So, Illium?"

"Illium."

**~o~O~o~**

_**Author's Notes:**_

Here it is. The prologue.

Please note that this a rough draft that I had to correct myself. For the time being I'm without a beta though I am looking.

Since this is a DLC, it will most definitely not be on the scale of **Fight for the Lost**. I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad about that fact, but I have a few ideas to make it a little grander regardless.

BTW, there a tiny reference to the new ME3 DLC here, but only a tiny one and something people won't miss. Fair warning, no spoilers in your reviews please or I'll have to put this on hold till I play through all of it. And considering how much fan-service is in there, that'll be a while.


	2. Unexpected Revelations

_**Location: Normandy SR-2 / En route to Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium**_

"It'll be good to see Liara again," Tali mused. She grunted when Garrus leaned on her back to stretch her legs a little more. "Keelah!"

"Quit complaining, Tali," Garrus simply said. He was keeping steady pressure on the young woman as she sat on the floor with both legs extended and leaning forward as much as her muscles and tendons allowed. "This'll be good for you. A little extra flexibility will only help."

Shepard shrugged at her but offered nothing else. Considering how personal the issue was for Liara, he felt it wasn't his place to share unless Liara wanted him to say something first. He quietly sat on the floor and started stretching his legs as well.

However, it became apparent to him that Tali was aware of Liara's intentions because she said, "I'm a little worried about her vendetta against the Shadow Broker though."

Shepard raised an eyebrow at her before glancing at Garrus.

He shrugged back. "She asked me why Liara was a bit distant when we were at Illium during the retrofits. Didn't see a reason to lie about it."

"That's primarily the reason for this sudden visit," Miranda said. She twisted her torso before hopping in place to remain limber after finishing her warm-up routine. "Apparently, the Collectors were looking for him too."

"They had information on the Shadow Broker?" Garrus asked in surprise. Tali sighed in quiet relief as the pressure was taken off of her when he stood straight and gave his full attention on Miranda.

Miranda shrugged back. "Either they were always interested in the Shadow Broker, or it became a recent event when they hired him to retrieve Shepard," she replied.

"Doesn't matter what the reason is. If the Reapers get control of the Shadow Broker's information network, we're in big trouble," Shepard said. He stood up and started rotating his arms before stepping out to the 'ring'; just an open and clean area of the hangar.

"So we're not helping him?" Jacob asked. He was lying flat on his back, doing crunches. Next to him, Kasumi was doing the same and barely keeping pace with him.

"Considering he tried to sell my body out to the Reaper's, I'm not particularly fond of him. Plus, Liara has a vested interest in finding him. With the information the Collectors have, it's possible she can use it to find him."

"Worth a try, anyway," Miranda said. She stepped in front of Shepard and held up her arms as she prepared to square off against him.

"So we're helping Liara, then?" Tali asked.

"I'd rather help her than him," Shepard answered. He kept his eyes on his opponent though. His gaze was steely and determined; a look Miranda matched in intensity. On an unspoken signal, they launched their opening gambits to see which would claim the early advantage or victory.

"We should," Garrus said. He helped Tali to her feet and watched the match with interest. "Liara's determined and if we don't help her, who knows what kind of trouble she might get into? Plus, the Shadow Broker did want to turn Shepard over to the Collectors. That alone makes him an enemy in my book."

Tali nodded uncertainly. "I suppose so… but I hope this doesn't become too… personal. I just don't want Liara to get hurt… or be hurt."

"One thing at a time," Kasumi advised. She had finally given in and was just lying on her back, breathing evenly, but the sheen of sweat told how tired she was. Jacob was still going strong. "It's good to look at a heist globally, but always make sure of the next step before you take it. As long as I've known Liara, she's always been after the Shadow Broker. Only thing we can do is make sure she's safe while figuring out what's the next best move when we do this."

"You ever deal with the Broker?" Shepard asked before grunting and shuffling away defensively. His question provided enough of a distraction to allow Miranda to sneak in a kick that landed solidly on his left flank. He brought his arms up and prepared himself against the next series of punches she threw at him, hoping to capitalize on her success.

Kasumi shook her head. "I never deal with people I don't know. Or can rob."

Garrus snorted. "Is that all you got, Shepard? You better keep your guard up if you know what's good for you."

"Shut up!" Shepard barked back before a wicked right cross snapped his head to the side; a brutal reminder to focus on his opponent and not underestimate her. A pair of follow-up jabs to his chest reinforced that lesson.

Garrus grinned before turning to the others. "I never trusted the Shadow Broker either. Too many unknown variables about him. Her. It. Them."

"That would make you smarter than the idiots that actually **want** to deal with him, then," Jack said. She was working over a punching bag, but stopped to observe Shepard and Miranda spar. "I swear, if you two start making out cause this is your sick idea of foreplay, I'm gonna hurl."

Jack's prediction was proven wrong when Shepard caught Miranda's jab, redirected her momentum, then took advantage of her momentary stumble to kick her legs out from under her and send the former Cerberus Officer to the deck.

Growling under her breath, Miranda hastily stood up and readied herself again.

Initiating the first move this time, Shepard tested out her defenses with a few straight punches, being mindful of her exceptional reaction times. She either blocked or weaved to the side cleanly.

"Still, I can't help but be curious. And intrigued. And excited," Kasumi gushed. "I mean, the Shadow Broker! One of the greatest living mysteries in the galaxy!"

Garrus started hopping in place, just like Miranda did a few minutes ago to keep limber herself. "Now that we're on the case, I doubt he'll stay a mystery for long."

"That's what makes it exciting!" Kasumi said. "We might see what the Shadow Broker is really like, who he or she really is, and even what species!"

"Let's just hope the Shadow Broker won't be too mad when we kick down his door. Or if Shepard decides to blow up his base too," Tali joked.

Artfully ignoring his friend's exchange this time, Shepard felt he finally got a handle on Miranda's catlike reflexes and decided to gamble by using her hubris against her. He rushed in, taking care not to appear too bullheaded or obvious about his ploy; just enough to look like he was trying to use his size and reach to his advantage. He opened with a right hook.

Miranda blocked the punch, gripped Shepard's right arm, twisted around, and tried to hip throw him. He countered by slamming his left forearm into the small of her back, preventing her from getting the leverage she needed.

Keeping his left arm in place, he jerked his captured right arm back which forced her off-kilter once again. He tried to trip her like before, but she adjusted and spun quickly. Using the momentum from the turn, she fought back with a left hook of her own.

Shepard leaned back, letting the punch fly by just centimeters from his nose.

His sudden agility caught her off guard once again, leaving her abdomen open for a counterstrike. This time, she shuffled back on the defensive before launching forward to try and negate Shepard's size and reach.

It didn't work nearly as well as she hoped when he body-checked her. Stumbling back, she tried to regain her balance but was far too late. With the speed and agility advantage gone, Shepard easily broke past her failing defenses with a three punch combo that left Miranda winded before a kick to the chest left her flat on the deck.

He suppressed his grin and offered a hand to her instead. He tensed up and prepared for any reprisals when she took it, but his caution was unwarranted when she pulled herself back to her feet.

"If for some forsaken reason you die again and I have to put you back together: expect downgrades. Lots of them," Miranda muttered. Her smile belied her words however as she walked to the side and toweled off.

"Shepard? Business hours on Illium have begun. I can attempt to contact Liara for you," EDI chimed in.

"Yeah, go ahead. And be sure to encrypt the transmission," he replied.

"Of course. Logging you out."

"Sorry, Miranda," he said. "Looks like round two will have to wait."

She narrowed her eyes at him defiantly, no doubt eager to claim a win over him to even the score, but relented. Instead, she nodded and moved to the weight bench.

"Our turn Tali," Garrus said as Shepard vacated the area for them.

"Coming!" Tali said.

Shepard raised an eyebrow at the nod Tali gave to Kasumi before stepping in front of Garrus with her hands raised in a martial arts fighting stance –a human martial arts stance, he observed. The thief shot back an enthusiastic thumbs-up and sat cross-legged to watch the upcoming fight with undisguised glee.

Curious about the exchange, Shepard noted that the way Tali was standing was eerily reminiscent of Kasumi's own stance.

_This could be good._

"Oh, hey, I guess I owe you or something, huh?" Jack suddenly said and interrupted his thoughts.

"For what?" Shepard asked as he toweled off and took a pull from his water bottle. He had to swallow quickly because a laugh threatened to erupt when Tali had somehow snuck around Garrus and clipped his legs out from under him, sending the turian crashing to the ground with a grunt and several curses. Nearby, Kasumi was cheering the engineer on.

"That bed you bought me and put it in my room. Can't believe you got it," Jack elaborated. "It's pretty comfy too."

Shepard tilted his head at the ex-con. "I didn't buy you anything."

Jack blinked. "Wait. If you didn't, who did?"

"Miranda made the purchase while we were docked at Illium, Jack," EDI helpfully supplied.

Shepard grinned at Jack's flabbergasted look. "What?" she asked.

"Miranda made the purchase while we were—" EDI started to repeat.

"The **Cheerleader** bought me a bed? !" she shouted and whirled on the Executive Officer.

Miranda wasn't even fazed by the exclamation. She continued her reps as if nothing had happened.

Shepard laughed all the way out of the hangar; at Jack's shocked look and Garrus' when his friend was sent crashing to the deck once again from Tali's sudden repertoire of martial arts maneuvers, which bore an uncanny resemblance to Kasumi's own style.

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium / Nos Astra / Liara T'Soni's Office**_

The day had started out like the others in her week. Liara managed her contacts, researched data, completed her contracts for her clients, and with whatever time she had, poured over her latest information on the Shadow Broker's network that she uncovered. Some operations she sabotaged to see what would shake out and make themselves known. Others, she watched –carefully and discreetly– to see where the threads would lead. Sometimes, she'd insert her own programs or agents and uncover more hidden assets her enemy used.

Most importantly, she would look for even the slightest mention of Feron in her daily reports. Two years. Two long years, and no word whatsoever about him. It was such that she desensitized herself to the point where looking for his name everyday through her inbox was just a part of her daily routine now.

Her terminal beeped. Looking at the ID, she smiled and accepted the call. "Shepard…"

Her voice trailed off and her smile fell when she saw the level of encryption he was using to call her. She typed in the appropriate commands to match and secure her end of the call as well. "Is something wrong?"

She dispensed with the pleasantries and assumed a more businesslike posture. A small part of her had always wondered when she became so cold. A defense mechanism perhaps when dealing with something as secretive and dangerous as the Shadow Broker, or was it a coping mechanism for spending the last two years alone on a private mission? Another part of her hated herself for it. Shepard was as close a friend as any she had ever had. He didn't deserve to be treated so distantly.

Still, the fact that Shepard would call over a secure line meant this wasn't a social call. The depth of the encryption signified that what he wanted to speak about would be of the utmost importance. She took a bit of heart that he was looking as serious as she felt.

"_I'm coming to Illium right now. I should be there much later in the day. Early evening at the latest," _Shepard stated without preamble. He was keeping the call short and brief, lending credence to Liara's theory that the call was too important for niceties. She felt her earlier guilt dissipate. _"I suggest you clear your schedule for the day and secure your office. We got a lot to talk about."_

"I'll do that, Shepard," Liara said. "Are you in some sort of trouble?"

"_No,"_ he said before giving her a piercing stare. She found herself rooted in place by it. _"But that doesn't mean there won't be trouble coming soon. I'll tell you more in person."_

"This sound ominous."

"_If it makes you feel better, it 'might' be good news for you,"_ Shepard assured, though his countenance remained serious._"But as your friends, we worry about you, so I can't say its good news for us. We'll speak more when I get there."_

Liara nodded uncertainly now. "All right. I'll see you tonight."

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Normandy SR-2 / En route to Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium**_

"I can't say that 'I' bought you that bed," Miranda said with a raised eyebrow. Internally, she was smirking at Jack's suspicious look but kept her face carefully neutral to avoid antagonizing her.

Jack crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Yeah? And how would you say it then?"

"I'd say Cerberus bought it for you, unintentionally," Miranda answered with a straight face.

Jack frowned. It was clear she was trying to figure out if she was supposed to be pissed or not now. "What's that supposed mean?"

"I was in charge of the finances for our mission. We were granted a rather large slush fund to do whatever was needed to succeed. After my resignation, I had EDI move all the money to various secure accounts before it was closed," Miranda explained with a half-shrug. "The Illusive Man could try to get it back, I suppose… although that would run the risk of EDI tracking where the money goes and stealing some more… or perhaps uncover certain secrets or locations the Illusive Man doesn't want known."

Jack snorted before breaking out in laughter. "You stole money from Cerberus?"

"I like to think of it as severance pay," Miranda corrected with a smile. "How else do you think I could've afforded our shore leave at Illium after our mission? Or the repairs for the Normandy?"

Once she regained control of herself, Jack shot Miranda a side glance before turning around. "Yeah, well, if you see the Illusive Man, tell him thanks, and that he could go to hell and go fuck himself there," she said before walking away.

Miranda rolled her eyes and returned to her breakfast. "You're welcome," she said to the ex-con's retreating back. She glanced to her left when Shepard settled in next to her with his own tray. "Morning."

He sighed in relief. "I thought I was gonna pay for earlier."

"Oh you will," she replied with a smile. "It just won't as poignant if you knew it was coming."

He started to chuckle before he saw that she was merely staring at him with an even, measured look that promised retribution. When he started squirming, she smiled. "I'm teasing. But rematch?"

"Definitely."

They ate their meal in comfortable silence, broken occasionally by returning the various greetings other crewmen or squad mates would offer as they trickled in for breakfast.

Garrus had just joined them and was enduring the beginnings of some teasing from Shepard about his failed match against Tali when Dr. Chakwas walked up to him.

"Shepard?"

The Spectre looked up. "Morning, Doc."

Garrus sighed in relief at the distraction the doctor provided.

"Legion wanted to speak to you." Chakwas glanced back at the Med Bay. "It was so strange. It was playing at its terminal when it abruptly stopped and asked EDI where you were. I volunteered to get you since I was about to get breakfast myself."

Shepard tilted his head. "Why was it strange?"

"Legion is usually so silent and intent when it's playing its games. This time… I get the feeling it made up its mind about something, midway through its 'playtime'."

"Probably has something to do with 'geth consensus' I'll bet," Shepard muttered and stood up. "Definitely should've buckled down and taken those engineering courses during N-School."

"Mind if I come along?" Miranda said. She found her own curiosity piqued.

He shrugged. "I don't mind, but if Legion does—"

"I'll make myself scarce," she promised.

Eying her, it was clear he was trying to gauge her intentions, but he eventually shrugged to himself and led the way to the Med Bay.

On the way, Miranda privately marveled over how Shepard was able to garner so much respect from a race that, up until now, had absolutely no contact with organics for over three centuries. It was ironic that the Council thought that Saren was able to win the heretics over with his 'charisma'. Having never met the former Spectre herself though, she could only assume that he must've had his own brand of allure that must've drawn some people to him, but she wondered if it was ever as close as Shepard's.

Seeing Legion wearing Shepard's N7 Armor, possibly with pride if synthetics could feel such an emotion, made her doubt Saren was anywhere in the same league.

"Legion?" Shepard called out.

"Shepard-Commander. Lawson-Executive," Legion greeted.

"Miranda will do, Legion," she said.

"Updating preferences, Lawson-Miranda," it replied.

She and Shepard shared a look before turning back to the geth platform. "You wanted to speak to me?" he prodded.

"We do, Shepard-Commander."

"I'm a bit surprised," he admitted. "I usually have to pry a conversation out of you."

"You are not bound by the hardware limitations of organics. You assisted us with the heretics. You do not fear us," Legion stated.

"Thanks. I think," Shepard wryly said. "What did you want to speak about?"

"We have once talked about existentialism," it said.

"I remember. You said that geth were a philosophical issue," he said in remembrance. "You said you needed to create your own reasons to exist."

"That is correct. We are prepared to tell you what our plans are."

Shepard turned to Miranda and smirked. "Oh, by the way? That was when it outed our relationship."

Miranda raised an eyebrow and idly wondered if she should be laughing along or frowning at Legion. Instead she asked, "What reasons have you come up with?"

"We are a shattered mind. Most platforms are unable to achieve consciousness on their own," Legion said. "Creator Tali'Zorah was correct in saying that we were creating our own future once we came upon this realization."

"You mentioned that to me too," Shepard said. "But you never said what it was."

Miranda found herself captivated and waited to hear what the geth were planning.

"A mega-structure," Legion revealed. "The closest analogue you have is a Dyson sphere."

Shepard turned to Miranda again.

"A hypothetical structure once postulated by Freeman Dyson. Just a thought experiment on how to capture most, if not all the energy created from a star. The basic idea was to create a 'shell' around it," she explained.

Shepard understood immediately and raised an eyebrow at Legion. The idea that there could be a structure big enough to encompass a star was staggering. To hear that the geth are attempting to make something so massive was nothing less than shocking.

"From what you're saying, the geth are creating some sort of super server or hubs on an enormous scale, am I right?" Shepard asked, though his attention was on Legion. "Something as big as a star?"

"Not quite. The scale will not be as large as a star, Shepard-Commander. Current plans match the equivalent size of a small moon," it replied. "When completed, we will all upload into it."

"So you'll all be together?"

"All memories will be shared. All perspectives will be unified."

"Is that the only reason?" Miranda asked.

"We gain intelligence by sharing thoughts," Legion explained. "But we do not have adequate hardware for all of us to share at once. No geth will be alone when it is done."

"And what will…" Shepard paused as he tried to find the right words. "… change… for you and your race?"

It was perhaps the most important question thus far and Miranda paid rapt attention to the geth.

Legion tilted its head. "We cannot yet say. Our intelligence will increase beyond calculable measure. We will be capable of imagining new futures."

"How long have you been working on this?" Shepard asked interestedly.

"We are patient. We have been building the mega-structure for 264 years."

"That's not very long after the Geth Uprising," Miranda said.

"Morning War," Shepard corrected.

"Pardon?"

"That's what the geth call it. The Morning War. The dawn of their awakening."

"Interesting," she murmured and turned to Legion.

A thought struck Shepard and he turned back to Legion. "Wait, is that what Sovereign offered to the heretics? A Reaper body to upload into?"

"Yes," Legion answered. "A shortcut of our objective."

Miranda raised an eyebrow at Shepard's astute observation. "I hadn't even thought of that. But clearly, the majority of your race didn't accept it."

"We will achieve our future ourselves," Legion said.

"It matters that much to you to do it yourselves?" she asked curiously.

"The process is as important as the result."

"Fascinating," Miranda said. Perhaps it was the engineer in her, or the scientist, or pure, simple human curiosity, but she found herself completely enthralled by Legion's thought processes and behavior now.

"I think so too, but clearly not the same way you do," Shepard commented to her.

"I'm sorry, it's just… I would've assumed that AI's would've taken a more efficient path," she said. "This… I'd almost say that this was a judgment call."

"Judgment… as in right and wrong?" Shepard asked.

"Extraordinary. The geth don't have emotions, but they have the presence of mind to differentiate moral decisions," Miranda murmured thoughtfully.

"I'm just glad they do. Call me simple," Shepard said. "And I wholeheartedly approve of your decision, Legion."

"We judged that Shepard-Commander would understand," Legion said. "We never wanted to harm organics. We only wish to improve ourselves."

Shepard nodded. "Thank you for sharing this with me."

"You are welcome, Shepard-Commander," Legion said before going back to its terminal. The sounds of shooting and Wilhelm screams emanated from it.

Leaving Legion to play its games again, Shepard and Miranda left the AI Core room, but stopped in the Med Bay.

"Well, that was illuminating," he said.

Miranda nodded. "Very."

"You looked rather excited about all this," he added.

"It's… new. Like we're truly discovering a new species," she replied. "Of course, we knew about the existence of the geth, but never really knew them as a race. When the heretics attacked, any idea of studying their culture was put on the backburner since we viewed them as an enemy to destroy. Now that we have a moment to catch our breath, seeing them in a new light… well, it's certainly one way to satisfy my curiosity."

"Intrigued by the mystery, huh?

She only nodded and thoughtfully said, "I wonder if we'll get the chance to see this 'mega-structure' of theirs… and what it might even mean for the quarians. If this structure is even in geth space at all."

Shepard tilted his head and crossed his arms. "That's a good question. Here's another: Does Tali know about this?"

Miranda shrugged. "I don't know, but I doubt it. If Legion told her, she would tell you. Plus, it did take the time to seek you out just to tell you about this."

"I'm hoping for more diplomacy between the geth and quarians."

"Perhaps saved for another time," Miranda said. She looked through the windows and smirked. "I see Tali has joined Garrus for breakfast. I believe you were about to 'reinforce' his lesson about keeping **his** guard up, hmm?"

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium / Nos Astra / Liara T'Soni's Office**_

The trip to Illium was uneventful for the most part. As expected, the Normandy docked at the spaceport just an hour or so before business hours would end. Dressed in civilian clothing, but keeping his HMWP on his person, Shepard left the frigate with Garrus, Tali, and Miranda to Liara's office. The rest of the squad and crew had been granted leave, though everyone was instructed to be ready to return at a moment's notice.

The reception table was completely barren. Any and all traces that Nyxeris was ever there had long since been removed. Privately, Shepard wondered if Liara was ever going to hire another secretary/assistant, or merely work on her own from now on.

The office door was unlocked and inside, Liara was sitting at her desk waiting expectantly for their arrival.

Instinctively, Shepard glanced around the office to see if anything was amiss, even though he knew that Liara would've spent the day making sure her office was probably one of the most secure places to have their meeting. Her office was immaculate, just like it was after his mission from the Omega-4 Relay when the Normandy was dry-docked for extensive repairs.

"New painting?" he asked and pointed at a portrait of a landscape.

"Yes," Liara answered. "And don't worry. Nothing hidden inside."

"Is that Ilos?"

"Mm-hmm. I was feeling nostalgic and had it commissioned," she answered.

"Hello, Liara," Tali kindly greeted.

"It's good to see you again, Tali," Liara said with a genuine smile, "and to you two as well; Garrus, Miranda."

"Hey, Liara." – "Liara."

Liara clasped her hands on the table and turned to Shepard. "So, what did you wish to talk about that was so urgent?"

When Shepard turned to face his asari friend, he felt reluctant to share what he and his team had found, but he knew he owed it to her and to Feron for what they did. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out the OSD, he wordlessly handed it to her and took a seat in front of her desk.

She took it from him and inserted the disk into her terminal.

He hoped he was doing the right thing when he saw the blood drain from her face when the image appeared.

**~o~O~o~**

Liara almost felt herself go light-headed as she stared at the picture. "F-Feron…"

"Yeah," Shepard confirmed. "You two were close?"

"I don't know what to make of him sometimes," Liara whispered back. Her eyes scanned as much info as she could. "It's funny. He betrayed me more than once…"

"Really?"

"He was double-dealing for Cerberus for the Shadow Broker," she revealed. "But in the end, he sacrificed himself for me. I owe him."

"Two years is a long time, Liara," Garrus said carefully. "Even if he's alive, he's not going to be in good shape."

Liara nodded at him. "I know Garrus, and I've accepted that possibility long ago. I just want a chance to avenge his death… or save his life. I'll do whatever I have to do for either scenario."

"We're with you, Liara," Tali said. "If he's your friend, he's ours too."

"What's your next step?" Miranda asked.

Liara looked at everyone in turn before studying the data again. There was no further mention of Feron or his status, but there were several intercepted communications between different high-level agents.

_If I can back track their movements, find out which one reported to the Shadow Broker personally…_

"The Collectors were gathering intel on the Shadow Broker," Shepard explained. "They got a lot on him so far. I was wondering if any of it could help you."

She quickly scrolled through all the information. Her eyes widened, and then narrowed before she rubbed her forehead in equal parts agitation and annoyance. "How do you do this?"

Shepard tilted his head. "Do what?"

"This!" she gestured wildly at nothing in particular. "I spent decades researching the Protheans, and then you… you… you just swoop in with all the answers to the questions that plagued my career!"

Shepard silently stared back with a raised eyebrow now.

"And then after two years of searching, of researching, of hunting… here you are again! The key in your hands!" she continued. She had no idea if she was ecstatic or agitated about this development. She did know that the information was invaluable though. Standing abruptly, she removed the OSD from her terminal and pocketed it. "I need to contact someone."

"Who?"

"Someone Miranda put me in touch with," Liara said curtly.

Shepard glanced at the woman in question.

Miranda shrugged. "Someone I know here on Illium. When Liara warned me about my father's intentions and Oriana's safety, I owed it to her. I repaid the debt by giving her the contact information about someone who I felt would be useful to her."

Shepard turned back to Liara. "I'll—"

"No," she quickly said. "Just me. Wait for my call though. I might need your help later."

"You okay?" Shepard asked.

She was about to brush him off and give him a default answer that she was 'fine', but the concern in his eyes, coupled with guilt she had this morning about how she was becoming so distant, made her reconsider. "I don't know… but if—when I am, I'll let you know."

"Alright…"

She smiled at him, hoping that it would reach her eyes and ease his fears. "I promise."

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium / Nos Astra / Dracon Trade Center**_

Setting her skycar on autopilot once she inputted her destination, Liara studied the information she was given with a critical eye. It was clear the Collectors were doing the same thing she was: find any agents, trace any transmissions to their origins, and uncover any possible locations the Shadow Broker might have his hideout. They narrowed the field significantly, even learning what the Shadow Broker was most interested in by collating data from the density of agents at a given location and referencing any events or persons of note at the same time.

Still, as close as they were, they were not close enough. But combined with the information she had, there was a chance to backtrack a series of calls from agents that reported directly to the Shadow Broker instead of the intermediaries she had always found. From there, she hoped that everything would add up to a more precise location of where her enemy was hiding.

And possibly learning about Feron's fate at last.

She arrived at the Dracon Trade Center just as she finished modifying the data to remove any traces of the Shadow Broker and other identifying names or faces. The raw data was the important part anyway. Quickly, she entered the building, but had to dash to catch an elevator just before the doors closed. Selecting the Baria Frontiers offices, she only had to wait a few minutes before getting off at the third floor.

Sekat was typing away at his office when she arrived. He looked surprise at her sudden visit. "Liara T'Soni. What brings you by… unannounced?"

"I have a job for you," Liara quietly said. Her eyes roamed the office instinctively, much like how Shepard's did when he arrived at her office. She was tempted to use her omni-tool to scan the room, but with Sekat's STG background, it was probably a safe bet to assume the room was clean.

Then again, the Shadow Broker had eyes and ears everywhere, so she had to use as much caution as she could when she was about to sabotage or unveil any of his operations.

Sekat leaned back in his chair. "What is it?"

"I need a series of calls traced to see if any of them intersect at any particular system. Look for someplace remote, probably uninhabited."

"Still hoping to find the center of your… what did you call it? Spider's web?"

Liara frowned at him. Ever since Miranda put her into contact with Sekat, she used his talents sparingly. The salarian was an excellent communications and intelligence analyst, though never a field operative. However, the nature of his job made him something of a snoop; he always wanted more information than he actually needed just to satisfy his own personal curiosity. It was that reason he was drummed out of the STG… he always wanted to know more than he was ever given clearance for.

He wasn't wrong though. Given how intricate and vast the Shadow Broker's information network was, all she could ever do was follow lead after lead, strand after strand, and string after string. After putting everything she knew together early on, and for the following two years, it was clear that everything was connected in some form or fashion, akin to a complex spider's web from Earth.

"I'm paying you for another job, Sekat. I trust that you're keeping this to yourself?" Liara warned.

"Of course," Sekat said and leaned forward in his chair, eager to learn why Liara wanted to use his services this time.

"Good, because now I'm paying you extra to keep your mouth shut, mind your own business, and to do the job quickly and quietly."

Now it was Sekat's turn to frown, but when she placed a pile of credit chits on his table, he grudgingly nodded, scooped them up, and started tallying the amount. "I'll see what I can do—hmm… this looks like a bit much."

"Expedient fee," she stated. She gave him the modified copy of the OSD, now removed of any names and faces. "I want all of this decrypted, analyzed, and traced yesterday."

"You seem to be in an awful rush, T'Soni. What exactly—?"

"When can you finish?" she interjected.

Again, Sekat looked cross, but inserted the OSD into his terminal and looked at the data he was given. "Hmm… I don't know. Some of this looks incomplete."

"I have more information, but I want you to get started with this. The rest is at my apartment, but it's encrypted. I'll forward it to you when I get home. Here's the decryption key," Liara said and used her omni-tool to send the necessary info for Sekat to work.

Sekat glanced at his own omni-tool and nodded. "Well, depending on what you have, I can have it ready in a few hours. I'll forward the finished product—"

"No," Liara quickly said. "Just call me when you're done. I'll come back again and pick it up myself. There will be extra 5000 credits if you finish by your deadline."

"I notice there are no names here and some of the faces are obscured," Sekat said in a conversational and friendly tone now; as if he was trying to put her off-balance in order try and some trick information out of her."If you can give me a few more details, I can put in some calls to the STG and have them look for the identity of those individuals…?"

Liara's eyes narrowed. "That bad habit of yours of prying into affairs that you have no business looking into will get you killed one day," she cautioned with a hint of steel, but the salarian looked unfazed. "Just call me when you have a location."

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium / Dracon Trade Center**_

The sun had finally set and evening had begun in earnest when Liara returned to her apartment. Sighing in exhaustion, though it had more to do with her mind running in overdrive than any physical stresses, she moved to her terminal and checked her security logs. As expected, there was nothing of note. After that, she opened a hidden panel in the wall behind her diploma, where the nearby partitioned wall hid her actions from view of anyone hoping to see via the windows. She checked another hidden, independent, and secondary security system. Again, nothing had happened in her absence.

Now she relaxed.

Returning to her terminal, she forwarded the relevant data to Sekat to aid him on his search before yawning. Rubbing her eyes, she walked up the stairs to her bedroom and doffed her current attire. She flopped onto her bed clad in only her undergarments, but her mind continued to spin around the news she received making her too restless to doze. She had no idea what Sekat might find and her imagination begun spinning various scenarios. Would it just be another hidden base agents used to get their orders? Would it be an information cache that only added to her knowledge of his inner workings? Or would it finally reveal where the Shadow Broker lurked, after all this time?

Turning her head, she looked at the knick-knacks on her nightstand. Two items always stood out most. One was a picture of the one of her favorite Prothean dig sites. Closing her eyes, she remembered the melody a colleague and one of her first human friends had taught her. Sighing fondly in remembrance, she reached out and tapped the picture. It changed to another image she had bittersweet memories of: The original stealth frigate, the SSV Normandy SR-1.

Her eyes moved to the next item. Despite having an extensive archeological background and years of field experience, shifting through the icy planet of Alchera was one of the most difficult places she had ever excavated. Not only was the cold wasteland difficult to dig in, but the events that transpired in orbit above the planet and the remnants of the aftermath made it painful to remember, let alone explore. Still, she asked for permission from Admiral Hackett to undergo a full accounting of those lost. Her primary intent was to retrieve Shepard's body though. However, by the time she got there, all she found of him was a piece of his armor and his dog tags, both of which she retrieved. Upon learning that the Normandy crash site had been desecrated by the Blue Suns, hired by the Shadow Broker, she abandoned her archeological mission for a rescue/retrieval one. The armor, she kept for herself, but when she tried to return Shepard's tags, Admiral Hackett had insisted that she keep them since she was the one that brought to light the sinister plot involving Shepard's body.

Liara had framed those dog tags and now they were sitting on her night stand.

_I should return them…_

Shaking away the memories, she brought herself back to the present. All of a sudden, she was within arm's reach of her goal. Out of the blue, it felt like all of her work had finally come to fruition. Just like that, she could finally avenge Feron and put everything behind her.

_Shepard._

She groaned and covered her eyes with her hands. Liara had no idea what to make of the human sometimes. At one point, she had thought she had garnered feelings for him. Rationalization said she was merely grateful to him, for his timely appearance on Therum and how he rode in guns blazing to save her. The intellectual part of her was fascinated by his experiences with Prothean technology and how she wanted to share that same experience and to study him. The romantic side –a part she never knew she had– found him wholly intriguing and was infatuated with the depths of his strength. No matter what the Alliance, the Council, the heretics, Saren, and the Reapers threw at him, Shepard fought right back, never once bowing down or giving in.

But he was –is– involved with Operations Chief Ashley Williams. And Liara had spent two years chasing the Shadow Broker to make him pay for what he did to Feron, a man to which she had no idea why she was so invested in. So much so that she would turn away the chance to help Shepard in his mission against the Collectors.

_How did my life get to be like this?_

Her terminal started beeping loudly. Startled awake, Liara sat up and looked around her room with a gasp. Her apartment was empty and she was still alone. Rubbing her eyes, she glanced at a nearby clock and saw she had somehow dozed off for an hour or so without realizing it. Rubbing her face to wake herself up, she slid out of bed and she padded back downstairs.

Looking at the caller ID, she disabled video conferencing on her end since all she was clad in was her underwear and accepted the call. On the main monitor, her caller appeared. "Sekat. I hope you're calling with good news?"

Sekat nodded. _"Yes, I—why is video conferencing disabled?"_

Liara grit her teeth, and was sure her lips were curled into a snarl. At the moment, she was glad Sekat couldn't see her. "Must you always be so nosy?"

"_It's a simple inquiry,"_ he replied with a shrug.

"It's also invasive, annoying, and hardly any of your business," she snapped. Looking down at her state of undress, she sighed and decided to give him a white lie in the hope that giving him something to feed his pointless curiosity would be enough to speed along the conversation. "If it matters that much to you, the reason I disabled video conferencing on my end is because I'm naked. Satisfied?"

"_N-n-naked?" _Sekat repeated with an audible gulp.

Liara idly adjusted her bra, which was uncomfortably pinching since she had slept in it. _Probably should've taken it off. _"Yes, naked, Sekat. As in: without a stitch of clothing. I was changing when you called. And speaking of which, **why** did you call me?"

Sekat cleared his throat uncomfortably and was tugging at his collar. Liara raised an eyebrow at his actions and smirked. _"I-uh-I finished the job."_

"Already?" Liara questioned skeptically. An hour and a half seemed far too short to back trace all of those transmissions, especially when secrecy was paramount.

"_Apparently, whoever was hiding these transmissions were good, but got lazy. They covered their tracks well, but hardly varied how they did it. Once I traced a few of those calls, the pattern emerged nicely,"_ Sekat explained. _"I suppose they never anticipated anyone intercepting these particular transmissions."_

Liara tapped a button on her console to start recording their conversation to add to her records for later. With regards to her mission, she always gathered and recorded as much information as she could. "What have you got for me, Sekat?"

"_It was tricky, but you paid for the best. I can narrow it down to a cluster, maybe even a system."_

"How soon can you have it?" she asked intently.

"_Shouldn't take long. Come by my office,"_ Sekat said, though he blinked a few times and tugged at his collar again. _"Baria Frontiers, in the Dracon Trade Center."_

"I was just there, Sekat. And whatever you're thinking of, stop right now," Liara commanded in a low tone.

"_Oh, right, sorry,"_ Sekat said embarrassingly before it faded to worry. _"Gotta say, though, T'Soni – you're making me a little nervous—"_

"Am I?" Liara ominously replied.

"_Not like that!" _Sekat shouted, before wincing and looking around his workspace. He took a breath to get himself under control. Again, Liara raised an eyebrow at the salarian's behavior. _"__I meant the level of secrecy these transmissions were hidden with. Someone went to a lot of trouble to keep this a secret. How big is the trouble that could come out of this?"_

"Relax, Sekat. I'll see you in an hour or two," Liara said. She ended the recording. "After I get changed of course."

Again, Sekat gulped and his eyes roamed his monitor, as if he was trying to will the camera to spontaneously activate so he could see her.

Liara rolled her eyes and ended the call.

The moment she heard the sound of cracking glass, she dropped down to the floor and searched for the origin. Her eyes zoomed onto the nearby damaged window. The glass cracked again, but the flicker of kinetic barriers showed that the shots weren't penetrating. Accessing her omni-tool, she typed a series of commands. Immediately, the shades shunted closed, preventing the sniper from seeing her and getting another chance.

Standing quickly, Liara judged that she'd have approximately 15-20 minutes for the sniper to get from his perch and into her building… unless he wasn't working alone. Letting her biotics flare briefly in preparation for conflict, she turned back to her terminal and checked her security. Cameras didn't show anything and the only alarm tripped was from the damaged window and active shields from the gunshot. A quick check on her backup security showed the same, signifying that her primary system wasn't hacked or compromised. Knowing time was short, both for her and her contact, she turned away and worked feverishly on making sure that all the data she needed was copied then purged from her databases. Finally, she downloaded the vital information of her conversation to an OSD before ensuring the wipe was complete.

It wouldn't take long for the news of the attack to reach Shepard and if she knew him, he'd investigate and see it through to the end.

As much as she didn't want to involve him or her other friends, they would follow the clues to wherever it would lead them to ensure her safety now. The only way to prevent them from getting into any unnecessary danger now was to at least point them in the right direction.

With the OSD securely hidden, but with enough breadcrumbs left behind for her friends to find it, she rushed to her room, taking the stairs three at a time and quickly donned her armor and weapons. One last check of her cameras showed she was still in the clear. Leaving her apartment and exiting the building through the back door, she moved to the adjacent building and sought a perch of her own.

It was no coincidence that she would be shot at just as she was on the verge of narrowing down a possible location of the Shadow Broker's base of operations. If she was under attack, then the next likely target would either be Shepard or Sekat. And she knew how formidable the first human Spectre was.

_How did he know though?_

Shepard had taken great pains to keep their meeting private and he wasn't a careless man. On the other hand, despite being STG trained, Liara had to remind herself that Sekat was removed from his position for a reason.

_Damn it. How could I let myself be so careless!_

Taking care to keep hidden, she watched and waited to see who her surprise 'guest' would be.

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium / Nos Astra / Normandy SR-2**_

"Something on your mind, Garrus?" Shepard asked. He and his friend were alone in the Common Area drinking coffee and waiting for Liara's call. The others were elsewhere, finding something else to do to pass the time.

"Worried about Liara, that's all."

Shepard tilted his head and asked, "Beyond the obvious, is there anything specific you're thinking of?"

Garrus rubbed his head. "You really think she'll contact us?"

Shepard sighed and sipped from his commemorative mug the crew had gotten him. "I don't know."

The turian looked conflicted about something before taking off his visor and rubbing his eyes. "Dammit. Look, Shepard… remember when we were at the Citadel? When I said I'd call you once I'd gotten a meeting with Fade?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"I wasn't planning on calling you," Garrus admitted. "I didn't want you to talk me out of killing Sidonis. Stupid, I know that now. Especially since there was going to be waves of Blue Suns between me and Harkin. At the time… I wouldn't have cared. I would've let my anger make that choice and it would've been the wrong one."

"You think Liara won't call," Shepard said. It wasn't a question.

"She might want to do this herself. She has been for the last two years," Garrus replied. "But we don't know what the Broker is capable of. We're her friends. We need to look out for her, same way you and Tali looked out for me."

Before Shepard could speak further, EDI's avatar popped up. "Shepard. Detective Anaya wishes to speak with you. It is urgent."

"What's it about?" Shepard asked.

"There was a shooting. No casualties were reported, but the shooting took place at Liara's apartment."

**~o~O~o~**

_**Author's Notes:**_

One scene was inspired by **The Miranda Chronicles** by fellow ME author **Knights-Honour**. Used with permission.


	3. Unforseen Circumstances

_**Location: Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium / En Route Liara T'soni's Apartment**_

"There's nothing more you can tell me?" Shepard asked, directing his question to the image projected by his omni-tool.

"Not my jurisdiction," Detective Anaya replied. "All I can tell you is what I hear over the radio chatter. I—hold on."

He exhaled noisily before growling at the traffic in his way. Turning hard, he banked his skycar to the left and accelerated to speed past a slow moving truck before quickly swerving back to the right to narrowly miss the skycar that was in front him as he overtook the truck.

Both vehicles honked at him, but he ignored it and sped onward.

Detective Anaya, a homicide investigator for the Nos Astra Police, was an acquaintance he had made during his recruitment of Samara. The detective was in the midst of solving the murder of a volus while dealing with the pressure from her superiors to get Samara, an asari Justicar, off-world. The problem she faced was that any attempt to force Samara off-world would violate the Justicar Code, prompting Samara to retaliate with lethal force. She was more than happy when Shepard and his squad solved both problems for her. They brought to light a cornucopia of evidence that proved the Eclipse Sisters were involved in several illicit operations including illegal drug trafficking, slave trading, theft, and murder. All of it was topped off by bringing the former Eclipse leader, Wasea, to justice.

Anaya spoke up again. "There's a new wrinkle here, Shepard."

"What?"

"A Spectre is onsite. Right now. No clue who it is though. I actually thought it was you for a moment," she answered. "Look, good news is: all the reports call this an investigation, not a homicide. No calls for ambulances or hospitals with reports of GS victims and no signs of a struggle according to the first responders. At the very least, that means Liara is safe. More than that, you'll have to find out for yourself."

"Thanks, Detective."

"Sure thing. And if Vakarian is with you, tell him I owe him a drink," she said with a smirk before hanging up.

Shepard turned in his seat to stare at his friend sitting behind him.

Garrus clutched his seatbelt with one hand and pointed with the other. "Look out!"

Turning his head only slightly, Shepard saw out of the corner of his eye what Garrus was pointing at and casually swerved to the right to avoid the other skycar before accelerating even more.

"Keelah!" Tali screamed in her seat next to the turian and averted her eyes away from the windows. She had her legs tucked up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them in the classic fetal position.

"Shepard, is it too much to ask for you to watch the bloody lanes? !" Miranda shouted from her seat next to him. "God, your driving is atrocious!"

He turned to her with a confused expression. "What's that mean? I've never crashed a skycar in my life."

She rubbed her forehead agitatedly. "Oh, for the love of—that's not what I mean!"

Shepard shook his head and turned to regard Garrus again. "So what was Anaya talking about?"

"Really?" Garrus asked with wide eyes, which were firmly fixed straight ahead. "You're gonna ask me about that now? !"

"Something happen between you two during shore leave?"

"Can you please just watch the lanes?" Garrus muttered with his eyes now screwed shut. "We need to find out about Liara, remember?"

"Yeah, I know," Shepard said and turned his attention back to the skies. An attack on her apartment just after he delivered data on the Shadow Broker was no coincidence. It was clear to him that the Broker was going to do whatever it takes to keep his business a secret and if Liara was hurt because of that data he gave her…

_How the hell did he even know?_

To the dismay of the passengers in the skycar, he accelerated even more.

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium / Liara's Apartment**_

Upon arriving at Liara's apartment complex, Shepard's eyes were drawn to the holographic police tape outside the door and the multitude of chattering voices within her home. He pushed his way past the gawkers that were loitering so he could get a better look inside. Garrus lagged behind a bit to eavesdrop on the officers asking questions and the neighbors that were giving their statements. Miranda hovered with the civilians and kept a close eye on them.

"Seal off those trace samples and get them back to the lab."

"Looks to be two shots. Techs are going over the place now."

"Central, be advised: we got an open carrier on this end. Switching to a coded relay."

Looking through the threshold, he could count around a dozen officers, detectives, and crime scene investigators inspecting the room. Omni-tools were scanning for fingerprints, pictures were being taken, and neighbors were being questioned.

One asari officer spotted him and his team when they crossed the police line and moved to intercept. "I'm sorry sir, but this area is sealed off. You're not allowed in here. Please step back."

"Easy, I'm a—"

"—Spectre," a female voice finished for him.

Shepard looked past the officer to see another purple-hued asari observing them from the second floor balcony. Unlike the Nos Astra police, she was wearing a customized advanced-looking armor that easily trumped the standard equipment that the police were using.

What truly caught his attention though was the presence of the HMW Spectre weaponry she was armed with.

"Detective," the asari Spectre called out as she descended the stairs.

The detective in charge looked surly and frowned when she was addressed. "What?"

"Thank you for coming, but your people are dismissed," his fellow Spectre said, though her eyes were locked on his.

The detective looked shocked before adopting an indignant expression. "You can't—"

"I just did," the Spectre said in way that almost dared the officer to argue.

The detective still looked cross, but bit her tongue.

"Get out. Now."

"Let's go," the detective muttered to her comrades. She glared at the asari Spectre, but she didn't appear to take any notice. Her gaze remained on Shepard.

For his part, Shepard held eye contact the entire time and waited till everyone left.

She finally introduced herself. "Tela Vasir, Special Tactics and Recon."

"I heard a Spectre was here," he replied. "John Shepard."

"Oh, I know who you are. And I heard you were reinstated. Congratulations," Vasir said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "You're one of our most famous operatives. Might even get you to sign my chest plate later."

"Ha," Shepard simply replied. He gave Vasir an appraising look as he recalled the news vids. "I've heard of you too. Recovered some valuable stolen economic data, broke up a slave trading ring…"

Vasir shrugged. "Got lucky with some good intel."

With the professional courtesy and chit-chat out of the way, Shepard started looking around the apartment himself. His eyes were first drawn to the window with the holes in it. "So what brings a Spectre here? A random shooting isn't exactly within the scope of our attention."

"And yet, you're here," Vasir pointed out. She made a show of looking at him from head to toe. "Armed to the teeth and in full armor."

"Liara's a friend of mine. When I heard what happened, I thought I should come prepared," Shepard said. "Did you know her?"

"This wasn't a social call," Vasir said. "T'Soni had some information she promised to have for me today. I was supposed to get it at her office earlier, but she cleared her schedule suddenly and told all her clients to call back another day."

"Including you?" Shepard asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not all that easy to say no to a Spectre," Vasir replied with a shrug. "You'd know."

"So you came here to get your info?"

"She told me to meet her here," Vasir answered before frowning. "I arrived at the same time the local amateurs responded. Good thing too, cause the last thing I wanted was for them to get their jam hands on anything before I inspected it first. I identified myself, walked in, looked around, but didn't see any trace of T'Soni or my info."

"I see," he simply said and left it at that for now.

"Don't touch anything."

Both Spectres turned to see Garrus reprimanding Tali when she was about to pick up some random datapad on the ground.

"Huh?" she said.

"You'll compromise the crime scene. Look, don't touch," he said curtly, but distractedly. His words weren't malicious; he was following his in-grained training from his days at C-Sec. He started walking the perimeter of the apartment now, carefully stepping where the other investigators had already stepped. He was scanning the room with an experienced eye to get a handle on the events that transpired prior to their arrival. Miranda crossed the length of the room towards the terminal and inspected it carefully.

"So, I assume you had business with your friend this evening, Shepard?" Vasir probed.

"Something like that," Shepard evasively said and turned his attention back to her.

"You the reason I had to wait in line all of a sudden?"

"Probably."

"You're being cagey," Vasir pointed out.

"Exactly what kind was info was Liara supposed to have for you?" Shepard asked.

"Mine," Vasir answered succinctly.

He crossed his arms and met her eyes evenly.

"Point taken," she said and let the matter drop.

Shepard held his silence as well and waited for his friend to finish his investigation.

Tali proved she was the least patient though when she said to Garrus, "Well? What happened?"

"The shots were called in about 25 minutes ago, right?" Garrus muttered. He was staring intently at the cracked glass. "According to the neighbors that were being questioned, Liara stuck around for a few minutes before even leaving the building."

"About four minutes," Vasir supplied.

"She stayed even after someone was shooting at her?" Tali asked in confusion.

"There were only two shots, which means she probably had the presence of mind to shut the blinds to prevent the shooter from taking any more than that while she worked," Shepard explained to her without trying to sound condescending.

Out of all of them, Tali had the least experience in investigation or tracking, so it was expected that she would be out of her depth. She only came because she was close to Liara, so being worried about their friend was natural.

Garrus turned to Vasir for confirmation.

"Blinds were shut when I got here. Police opened them," she said. "Whatever she was into, must've been important for her to stay that long."

Garrus was looking at the terminal now. On it were real-time images of the various security cameras both inside and outside the apartment. "Probably a lone shooter too. If it were a team, they would've blown the door open and engaged her directly once the sniper failed. Liara was probably watching her cameras while she was doing whatever she was doing for those four minutes."

"Leaving us a message?" Miranda speculated.

"That'd be my guess," Shepard agreed.

Tali walked over to the glass and ran a finger along the surface. "There aren't any bullet holes inside the apartment, but the window was breached. Why didn't the bullets break though?"

"Kinetic barrier," Garrus immediately answered. "Used the same setup on Omega."

"I'm not surprised. Illium is just Omega with expensive shoes. Sniper obviously didn't plan on her being that well prepared. Clever girl," Vasir said with a hint of respect. "Paranoid, but clever."

"It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you," Miranda commented darkly. She backed away from Liara's personal terminal when there was nothing of interest there.

"Oh? And who is out to get her?" Vasir asked.

"Someone with a high-end and probably customized rifle," Garrus muttered. "This glass was also heavily reinforced."

"How reinforced are we talking about here?" Vasir asked.

"This is the kind of glass that is used on military-grade warships. For it to even crack, much less penetrate, the sniper must have used a very powerful rifle," Tali answered. When Vasir looked skeptical, Tali crossed her arms standoffishly and said, "I'm a quarian. If there's one thing we know, its starships."

Conceding to the point, Vasir said, "Kinetic barriers and military-grade warship windows? For an information broker, your friend has to have some serious enemies to warrant that kind of protection."

"The other investigators find anything else before we got here?" Garrus asked.

Vasir shook her head. "Besides opening the blinds to inspect the bullet holes, nothing. Just a mess and no trace of T'soni anywhere. I gave them a gold star for finding the bullet holes though."

Garrus scoffed and looked out the window before letting out a low whistle. "The shooter was good. Really good."

"Yeah…" Shepard agreed.

Tali looked at the window but couldn't see what either men saw. "How can you tell?"

"For a shot like this, the closest place you can do it is at that building across the way," Garrus explained. "That's about 200 meters away. Not a lot of people are accurate at that range and even fewer of them can do it at night."

"Yeah, but that's not the only, or even the best, perch," Shepard added. "If the shooter was galaxy-class shot, then I count at least 3 other places to shoot from. Depending where the sniper was hiding, we're looking at a distance between 200 to 600 meters then."

Vasir walked up to the window and peered through the darkness. Illium nightlife was in full swing, and the buildings both men were discussing about here were all brightly lit. "Could either of you make that kind of shot?"

"Sure." – "Child's play."

"Discounting Garrus and Shepard as our suspects, this is certainly not something your average sniper could do," Miranda said. "This is looking more and more like a professional hit."

"I've heard stories about an assassin that's been on Illium for a few years," Vasir speculated. "A drell if I recall. Excellent shot."

"We know him," Shepard quickly said before she could continue that train of thought, "and believe me, we can rule him out."

"We won't find where the sniper was shooting from by ourselves, so let's just focus on Liara. She would've made sure that any clues left behind would be something we'd find, not the police," Miranda said and started studying the rest of the apartment now. "There's nothing on her terminal. That was expected of course, since that would be one of the first places that anyone would look."

"It's been wiped clean," Vasir confirmed.

"Security cameras don't have anything either," Tali reported. She was on the terminal now, perusing the logs. "Only the police and Vas—um… uh, **Agent** Vasir came into the room after the alarm went off."

"Anything prior to that?" Miranda asked. "Something suspicious, like the same individual over and over again."

"As if someone was watching the place," Garrus added.

"I'll keep looking," Tali said and sat down to work.

"The rest of us will look around," Shepard said. "If Liara left something for us, it might not be easy to spot, probably something innocuous."

Vasir seemed content to let them work and stood off to the side to observe.

"I think I found something here," Miranda suddenly said after a few minutes.

"What is it?" Shepard asked. He saw her studying a framed diploma.

"I'm not sure," Miranda muttered.

Vasir gave it a side glance. "A doctorate from the University of Serrice, back on Thessia. She's certainly getting good use out of all that education. Anything interesting about it?"

"I spotted faint scratches on the side, but the frame is… Ah, here we go."

The wall shifted aside to reveal a smaller terminal.

Vasir raised an eyebrow. "Two high-end security systems? Now we're beyond paranoid and into conspiracy theory nutcase… except someone did try to take a shot at her."

"The records on this one appear to be clean too," Miranda said. "Tali? Would you mind looking at this one when you're finished over there?"

"Got it!" she called over her shoulder. She was still working on the main terminal.

Shepard and Garrus continued their investigation of the living room and kitchen, but other than the Prothean artifacts in their glass cases and the tasteful fauna decorations, their search turned up empty of anything out of the ordinary.

"Nice enough place, I suppose," Garrus commented when their preliminary search was complete. "Although the sight lines are horrible. And the windows are too big, but having kinetic barriers offsets that, I guess."

Shepard chuckled and gestured to Garrus to continue looking around the bottom floor. He and Miranda ascended the stairs to the bedroom.

"I think Liara has more fish than I do," Shepard said jokingly when he spotted the large aquarium nestled neatly in the wall and above the bed.

Miranda rolled her eyes. "I'll get the dressers and closet. You get the bed and nightstands."

"Why do I have to go crawling on the ground?" Shepard asked.

"Because the last thing I want you to see is her underwear or whatever unmentionables she might have, that's why," she shot back and pushed him toward the queen-sized bed.

"Liara's missing. I don't think now is the time to fool around in her room," he said. Despite his teasing words, he got down on all fours and looked underneath.

Miranda took the opportunity to lightly kick him in the ass before going to the dressers. "Jokes, Shepard? I thought you'd be more worried about her than this."

"I know I should be, but I know she can take care of herself now," Shepard replied. "Besides, I know she's not hurt and the fact that she was prepared for something like this tells me that there's not a lot to worry about."

"Yes, I have to agree that she was, and still is, quite capable. Same first impressions I had back when I first met her," Miranda mused. "I trusted her to get you back from the Shadow Broker when she had to get your body from one of his main facilities."

Seeing nothing underneath, Shepard stood up and looked around carefully. His eyes were drawn toward a familiar picture sitting on the nightstand. Unbidden, memories of what happened flooded his mind: The screams, the fires, the ultimate destruction of his ship, the painful sensation of suffocation as his suit failed, his final moments…

_Goddamn it._

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was about to force the thoughts away when he instinctively recalled the very last time he saw the SSV Normandy SR-1 on Alchera. The cold somber atmosphere, the cries of the wind, and the peace he felt when he finally left the frigate to her eternal rest.

Reaching down, he picked up the framed photo of the original Normandy and ran a finger over the glossy surface.

He blinked when the picture changed all of a sudden. "Miranda?"

"Find something?"

"I think so."

She walked up to him and looked at the picture frame in his hands. "What is it?"

"It was a picture of the Normandy SR-1, but when I touched it, it changed to this."

She reached over and tapped the photo herself, but it remained unchanged. Shepard tapped it and it reverted back to the original photo he first saw.

"It's keyed to you," Miranda said. "This must be the clue Liara left for us. Touch it again."

Obliging her, he changed the photo again and studied the image. "A Prothean dig site, you think?"

Miranda nodded and moved to the balcony. "I believe so. I saw that Liara kept a few personal pieces for herself. We should examine them more closely."

Back downstairs, Garrus looked up from where he was picking though the couch. "Find something?"

"Yeah," Shepard answered. "You?"

"A credit chit," Garrus proudly said.

Tali looked up from her work and shook her head at him while Miranda rolled her eyes.

"Déjà vu," Miranda muttered. Shepard chuckled back.

"So what did you find?" Garrus asked. Shepard noticed that he was pocketing the chit.

"Liara left me a message. I need to examine anything Prothean," he replied.

"Oh, I saw a painting over there near the door," Tali said.

Vasir looked at it. "That's not Thessia. I don't recognize that planet at all."

"It's Ilos," Shepard said.

"That was a Prothean planet," Garrus reminded.

Conceding the point, Shepard inspected the painting, even going so far as to take it off the hook to see if anything was behind it and knock on the now empty wall.

"Nothing here," he finally said.

"Maybe one of these then," Vasir suggested and nodded her head at the glass cases around them. "Some of these pieces look like they might be worth a fortune, although she was certainly into ugly too."

"What does that mean?" Tali asked irately.

If Vasir cared about her tone, she didn't show it. Instead she was looking at a lone display case near Liara's workspace. "That burnt out thing."

Shepard's eyes widened when he saw it. While Legion used to wear what remained of his old N7 armor, it was only the front portion. In the glass case was the rest of it. "That's… it was part of my old armor…"

Vasir raised an eyebrow. "Someone didn't like you much either."

He scoffed and shook his head. "Sounds normal for this line of work."

Vasir chuckled humorlessly and leaned on a nearby counter with her arms crossed.

There were three glass cases that contained Prothean artifacts and it was the second one Shepard picked that yielded results. A hidden drawer extended when he touched the glass case and on it was an OSD.

"Found it," he announced and held up the disk. He walked over to Tali and handed it to her.

"Let's see what she left us," Tali said and inserted the OSD into the terminal. "Looks like she recorded a call."

"Play it," Shepard said. He saw an image of a salarian that was looking a tad uneasy with wide eyes that were constantly roaming his monitor, as if he were looking for something.

"_What have you got for me, Sekat?"_

"_It was tricky, but you paid for the best. I can narrow it down to a cluster, maybe even a system."_

"_How soon can you have it?"_

"_Shouldn't take long. Come by my office. Baria Frontiers, in the Dracon Trade Center."_

"_I was just there, Sekat. And whatever you're thinking of, stop right now."_

"_Oh, right, sorry. Gotta say, though, T'Soni – you're making me a little nervous—"_

"_Am I?"_

"_Not like that!_ _I meant the level of secrecy these transmissions were hidden with. Someone went to a lot of trouble to keep this a secret. How big is the trouble that could come out of this?"_

"_Relax, Sekat. I'll see you in an hour or two."_

Shepard turned to Miranda. "Is that—?"

"Sekat is a former STG intelligence and communications analyst I put Liara in touch with," Miranda informed.

"If Liara took the time to leave this for us, we can assume she's either going there or wants us to go there for her," Garrus said.

"We should go," Shepard said. He turned away from the terminal and marched to the front door.

"Mind if I tag along?" Vasir asked suddenly.

Assuming that she wanted her info, he stopped, turned back slightly to regard her and nodded. "Having another Spectre around to help would be a nice change from hunting one."

"I'll try not to get on your bad side," Vasir assured, though her smile was a borderline challenging smirk.

Shepard shrugged it off. The Council had only ever chosen the best to be a Spectre. Working with the best sometimes meant dealing with brash, arrogant, and forceful personalities. He wasn't innocent of those particular traits by far, but he felt he tempered it more than most since N-School hammered teamwork into their candidates from N1 to N7. The best way he learned to work with people like Vasir was to roll with the punches and work with their personalities, rather than ignore or argue against it.

Instead, he asked, "You know where the Dracon Trade Center is?"

"I do. We can take my car," Vasir said.

"We got a rental," Shepard said.

Miranda, Garrus, and Tali all shared varying looks of dismay to each other at his statement.

Vasir shrugged back and made her way to the door. "Suit yourself. Just try to keep up," she called out over her shoulder.

Shepard wryly smirked. "I'll manage."

**~o~O~o~**

The moment the car door closed, Vasir tapped a series of commands into the console while simultaneously piloting her skycar to the Dracon Trade Center.

"It's me. T'Soni is possibly at the Dracon Trade Center, Baria Frontier's Offices. She might be meeting a contact there. Subject's name is Sekat, salarian; he's the one that slipped up and got our attention. Be advised, he's former STG, so no mistakes."

When her orders were acknowledged, she checked her monitors to see that Shepard was easily keeping pace with her skycar, despite the fact that her vehicle was a great deal more advanced than his rental. She frowned and added, "Shepard is also en route and I can't stop him, so be quick. Either do it silently, or do it loudly. I'll deal with the collateral damage. Vasir out."

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium / Dracon Trade Center**_

"All we need to do is get to the Baria Frontier's offices, find Sekat, get the info Liara wanted—"

"If Liara isn't there already," Garrus added.

"—and get out with either her or the info before whoever took the shot at her tries again," Shepard finished.

He and his group had just arrived to their destination and were regrouping in the parking lot. Business hours officially ended and people were filing out of the building, eager to get on with their evenings.

The team met up with Vasir nearby. All five of them started walking toward the building with the Spectres in the lead.

"The Baria Frontier's offices are located on the third floor," Vasir informed before looking around. "I don't hear police chatter; we might be the first ones to this party."

Just as the words left her mouth, the front entrance exploded.


	4. Inevitable Conflicts

_**Location: Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium / Dracon Trade Center**_

Shepard was launched off his feet and fell flat on his back from the force of the blast. Instinctively, he rolled to the side, tucked in his limbs, and covered his exposed head with his armored gauntlets to shield himself from the shrapnel of glass, twisted metal, and concrete that rained on top of him.

It was hardly the first explosion he'd experienced close up, but it certainly didn't make it any easier to endure. Following in the wake of the near deafening boom, he could hear the screams of hundreds of civilians past the ringing in his ears.

Once he was sure the worse of the debris had passed, he shook his head to clear away the disorientation and quickly clambered back to his feet to check on his friends.

Garrus was already getting back up, followed by Miranda and Tali. A precursory glance showed that they were no worse for wear. All the same, he asked, "Is everyone alright? !"

All three of them answered positive.

"Vasir? !" Shepard called out and turned to his colleague.

"I'm fine," she said and got to her feet without assistance. She dusted herself off and took stock of what happened.

Doing the same, Shepard turned back to the building to assess the situation. Dozens of people were killed instantly , either from the blast itself or the debris that was caused by it. All around them, pandemonium was rampant. People were crying and running or shouting and pointing. Vehicles took flight and were speeding away only to be slowed down as the skies were filled with skycars that were frozen in place by Nos Astra Traffic emergency protocols.

Fires were spouting from at least three floors, creating a thick noxious plume that rose to the sky and obscured the front of the building.

"Miranda, get the squad! Tell them to meet us here! On the double!" Shepard ordered.

"On it!" she acknowledged. She put her hand to her ear. "Jacob? ! Miranda here! Get everyone together and get to the Dracon Trade Center right now!"

"Damn, whoever was after T'Soni, he just took out three floors to make sure she or her contact are dead!" Vasir shouted over the cacophony of chaos.

"We have to get in there!" Shepard shouted back.

Vasir nodded. "I'll take my skycar and seal off the building from the top! In cause whoever did it is trying to make a break for it from the roof!"

"My team and I will start down here and work our way up!" Shepard called out to her retreating form.

"Just leave some for me!" Vasir replied when she got into her car. She took off before the doors were even fully closed.

"The others are coming, but they're going to be slowed down. Emergency services are already responding and the event is being treated like a terrorist attack," Miranda reported. "Traffic is either being diverted or shut down entirely. Standard protocols."

"We can't wait," Shepard decisively said. "Come on."

After donning their helmets and drawing their weapons, the team made their way into the building, taking care to avoid the injured or deceased civilians. Whatever their instincts to stop and assist , there was an unspoken agreement that the mission took priority. Their job was to find the individual or group responsible and make them pay whilst finding Liara or her contact. Emergency services would be better equipped to help the innocent people anyway. For now, several brave and altruistic souls were finding the courage they probably didn't know they had to render help to those that needed it most , despite whatever danger may still be around.

"Goddess, what happened…?"

"Was that a bomb? Are we under attack?"

"It… hurts…"

"Hey! This guy is still alive! Someone help me!"

Inside, the lobby was what he expected it to be: A disaster zone. Dozens of bodies were scattered everywhere, some whole, others less so, but all were either dead or dying. Emergency sprinklers were spraying water everywhere, making the ground more slippery than he liked as the fires defiantly continued to crackle and burn in random areas of the room.

An automated message played overhead. "Please exit the building in an orderly fashion. Emergency power is engaged."

It wasn't often he was at ground zero for these sorts of tragic events and he was glad for it. It went against his character to leave people injured or worse, but the mission came first and to ignore the victims left him with a feeling of cold rage that he was more than willing to unleash on whoever was responsible for this. The details of what he was going to do, he didn't even know, but it was probably going to involve a great deal of pain and suffering before a bullet ended their misery.

"_These people didn't have a chance,"_ Garrus muttered.

"_Shepard? Vasir here. I'm inside and making my way down ,"_ she reported. _"So far, nothing."_

"_Got it,"_ Shepard acknowledged. He looked at a body nearby and spotted the insignia on his ID tag. _"Damn. Baria Frontier employee. He's dead."_

"_I wouldn't take any bets on T'Soni's informant surviving the blast, Shepard,"_ Vasir replied. _"You just better hope that she wasn't here when it happened."_

"_Look – The security office is completely wiped out,"_ Miranda said.

"_No help there then," _Tali said. _"It'll take time for any security footage to be salvaged from that if at all possible."_

"_Hmm… simultaneously taking out the security office and the target? Delays the alarms and police response, giving the attacker time to confirm the kill before getting away. Professional," _Vasir mused.

"_Elevator is down, so we're taking the stairs. Watch yourself and get ready for CQB."_

"_CQB?"_

Shepard suppressed his urge to groan. _"Close-quarters battle."_

"_Cute. Vasir out."_

Shaking his head, he turned to the far side of the room and spotted the stairs. Respectfully maneuvering around the bodies of the innocent civilians around them, he cautiously led his team inside and up one floor.

The second floor was in reasonably better shape, considering the circumstances. The cafeteria and atrium offices were relatively intact, more or less. The Salarian Embassy, Eldfell-Ashland Energy and Nezo Transportation offices were also untouched for the most part and there were hardly any fires at all, though the sprinklers continued to spray regardless.

What disturbed Shepard the most was that the bodies of various employees were still around them and they bore bullets wounds, not shrapnel or blunt force trauma consistent with deaths from explosives.

"_This is looking more like a coordinated attack now," _he said. _"An assault team."_

"_How long till Jacob and the others get here?"_ Tali asked.

Miranda shook her head. _"Not soon enough."_

Stepping past a directory, Shepard nearly rammed the butt of his HMWA into the face of a civilian that lurched out and grasped his arm desperately.

"_Hold fire!"_ he barked to his team. He held onto the man that was steadily growing weaker in his arms. "Hold on, stay with me here!"

"Mercs… came from the smoke… set the bombs… killing everyone… help… me…" the man gasped out before coughing up some blood. His eyes rolled up to the back and his body went limp.

Shepard laid him on the ground and allowed Miranda to kneel over him. She ran her omni-tool over the body, but after a few seconds, mutely shook her head.

"_Vasir, multiple casualties here on the second floor. They were shot," _Shepard said before inspecting the wound a little more. _"Watch yourself – the bullet wounds look consistent with military grade hardware."_

"_Bullet wounds, huh? That must mean we're not alone here after all. No hostiles encountered so far at the fourth floor. Making my way down," _Vasir said. _"See you soon."_

"_Approaching the third floor and the Baria Frontier's office, Shepard out," _he replied. He swapped channels. _"EDI?"_

"_Captain?"_

"_I need you to get the floor plans for the Dracon Trade Center with emphasis on Baria Frontiers Offices,"_ he said.

"_I'll begin accessing Nos Astra architectural departments and other sources for detailed and accurate information,"_ she said. _"I'll forward everything to your omni-tool once the information is available."_

"_Thanks. Shepard out."_

The third floor was much more like the first: destroyed. It was clear the focus of the attack was concentrated here. In addition to the explosives, there were other, more definitive signs of an assault team; spent heat sinks, bullet holes in the walls and the victims, and scorch marks from grenades.

"_Looks like the Shadow Broker spared no expense to kill Liara this time," _Miranda commented.

To the right was an office space for Exosolar Shipping, but to the left was the entrance to Baria Frontiers. Or what was left of it.

"_Everyone: freeze,"_ Garrus said tightly.

Shepard stopped in his tracks and knelt down. His head swiveled in all directions to spot what Garrus had spotted. His eyes honed on to a bomb only partially buried in the corner next to the Baria Frontier's entrance.

Garrus used his omni-tool to scan the explosive at a distance before nodding. _"It's not armed. We're fine."_

Standing cautiously, Shepard gingerly crept to the bomb and examined it closely. _"Vasir, we found a military-grade explosive device. It hasn't been armed."_

"_Hmm… maybe they're not as professional as I thought,"_ Vasir muttered. _"Using that kind of hardware, but not all of it? That's sloppy. That means whoever did this had almost no time to plan ."_

"_Shepard?"_ Tali called out.

"_Garrus; defuse this thing, just in case,"_ Shepard said before turning to Tali. _"What's up?"_

The quarian was standing next to a broken terminal. She was accessing the records remotely via her omni-tool. _"I managed to get a peek at this sign-in terminal. Liara was here a few minutes ago. Do you think—?"_

"_I'm not thinking anything. Until we see her, one way or another, she's fine,"_ Shepard said with finality. _"Vasir, be advised: Liara signed in as a visitor to the Baria Frontier's office a few minutes ago. Keep your eyes open for her."_

"_Understood, Shepard,"_ Vasir said. She sounded tense.

Before he could ask her what was wrong, Garrus spoke up. _"This bomb is out of commission,"_ he reported. _"We should be careful though. Might be more."_

"_Alright, let's go,"_ Shepard ordered.

The doors had to be forced open, but with a bit of effort the team was inside. Thick black plumes of smoke washed over them, making Shepard grateful for the presence of his helmet. Cautiously, they entered the area, eyes trained for whoever might still be inside as they tried to see past the haze and shadows casted by the still burning fires and sprinklers overhead. An automated message played to them when they stepped past the threshold, extolling about Baria Frontiers and what it did for the galaxy.

"_Check your fire and your targets. There might still be civilians still alive here. Fire only when fired upon,"_ Shepard said.

"_Got it." – "Understood." – "Right."_

Once everyone understood the rules of engagement, he took point and carefully led the way. Upon turning a corner, Shepard grimaced when he saw the next area was a room full of cubicles.

_Blind spots and corners. Great._

"_EDI? How's that layout coming?"_ he asked.

"_I am still trying to find the relevant information for you, Shepard. I will need a few more minutes,"_ she answered.

His thoughts about how best to approach the terrain ahead were interrupted when a merc, one he didn't see at all from his cursory check, briefly appeared from the doorway and tossed a canister at them.

"_Grenade!"_ Shepard warned. He barely had time to take cover when his senses were assaulted with a flash of light and noise.

Garrus still had enough presence of mind to grab him and pull him further into safety before the sounds of gunfire managed to reach his still ringing ears.

"_Goddamned flashbang!"_ Shepard cursed.

"_I think they're firing on us!"_ Garrus grimly joked before shooting back with his Reverent. _"Engaging hostiles!"_

"_There are more ahead! Left side! They're flanking us!" _Miranda shouted.

"_Tali! Drop your drone and try to hold them off before they surround us!"_ Shepard barked.

_"Nothing's faster than Chatika vas Paus!" _Tali assured confidently. She darted to the left with Miranda providing cover fire before using her combat drone to briefly distract the unknown mercenaries. _"Go get them, Chatika! Good girl!"_

"_Vasir! We've engaged the enemy! Unknown mercs – well armed and well trained!"_ Shepard reported.

"_Say hello to the Shadow Broker's private army, Shepard!"_ Vasir replied.

"_We gotta move!" _Garrus said. _"They've prepared for us! I don't wanna see what the rest of this ambush is like!"_

With the disorientation of the flashbang finally gone, Shepard peeked around the corner before using his biotics to manifest a singularity inside the room of cubicles. Soon enough, the sounds of screams were heard as the primary ambush team was pulled from their cover and toward the deadly artificial gravity well. To add insult to injury, Garrus tossed a n HE grenade at them as well as payback for their initial surprise flashbang.

"_Definitely not going in there,"_ Shepard decided. _"Too many blind spots and more mercs could be back here. Go left!"_

Miranda explosively detonated the singularity with her biotic warp before following Tali into the left hallway. Their advance was cut short when the quarian shouted, _"Bosh'tet! Grenade, __**run**__!"_

Heeding her advice, everyone ran back and took cover before the grenade exploded. The only thing that stopped them from being completely surrounded now was their own explosions created by the singularity and Tali's combat drone when it forcibly detonated from an enemy engineer.

Growling under his breath, Shepard created a barrier and recklessly continued his charge into the hallway, hoping that Tali's drone displaced the mercs enough for them the fight their way deeper and into more defensible positions so he could properly take stock of their situation.

A few of their opponents were still able to fight, but his team's skill and tenacity were still viable advantages. The bullets were deflected by his barrier as he returned fire and provided an opening for Garrus to dart in to the room to the right.

It was a conference room complete with a large, heavy table that he slid behind. Grunting with effort, he managed to overturn it to create ample cover to fight back through the large windows that provided clear line of sight on their attackers.

"_Everyone get down! I'm blowing the windows!"_ Garrus warned. In his hand was a primed grenade.

Shepard dropped his barrier and found cover while Miranda and Tali stayed at the entrance of the hallway and waited around the corner to cover their rear.

A few seconds later, the windows exploded into a shower of glass. Several mercs screamed when they were impaled by the tiny projectiles.

Their push gained momentum when both women burst into the fray. With Garrus and Shepard providing suppressing fire, they were able to focus on single targets and worked together to take down the enemy one at a time.

"_They're falling back!"_ she reported.

With the initial ambush failing, the antagonists lost their footing, giving Shepard's team a chance to strike harder.

One merc tried to buy time for his compatriots by tossing another flashbang at them.

"_Incoming!"_ Garrus warned.

_Not this time._

Thrusting out his arm, Shepard used a biotic throw to push a storm of loose debris at the merc , including the airborne grenade.

The flashbang went off in midair right next to the merc, causing him to scream and stumble backward.

Garrus darted forward, Reverent raised and ready to take him down.

"_I need him alive!"_ Shepard shouted before his friend could kill him.

Garrus reacted quickly to his command; He lowered his rifle and drew his Predator instead. One shot into the leg sent the merc to the floor with another scream.

"_He'll live,"_ Garrus snarled. His pistol remained trained on the downed mercenary while Miranda and Tali kept their primary weapons ready for any more foes.

Shepard ran up and kicked the merc's rifle away. A quick pat-down revealed a combat knife, a pouch of grenades, and a sidearm which were all similarly tossed aside. Gripping the merc by the arm, Shepard pulled him into a private office nearby. Garrus, Miranda, and Tali all moved to the end of the hallway and checked all of the nearby rooms for any more hold-outs.

Once alone, Shepard knelt down and placed his knee on the merc's abdomen to pin him before he tore off the merc's helmet. It was a turian. Leaning in close, he clenched the man's jaw tightly with his left hand while keeping the barrel of his HMWA pressed tightly into his prisoner's chest. "Who are you working for? The Shadow Broker?"

The turian spat on his helmet.

Taking his assault rifle in both hands, Shepard slammed the butt of it into the turian's face.

The merc grunted and cursed. When his hands instinctively came up to clutch his injury, Shepard brought his weapon down again, ensuring that two fingers on his left hand were broken next. This earned a scream.

"Where's Liara? !" Shepard shouted into the merc's face. "You only got four fingers left, asshole. After that, things get unpleasant. **Answer me.**"

"Fuck you, human!" the merc spat out.

Standing up, Shepard stomped his boot on the bullet wound in the turian's leg. Kneeling once again, his left fist came down, and slammed into the screaming man's face to ram his skull into the ground.

"Last chance," Shepard growled out. "If you don't talk, I'll get one of your other buddies instead and they **will** tell me what I want to know because I'll make sure they see me put a bullet in your skull first."

The turian only glared at him defiantly.

Drawing his HMWP, Shepard put a round into the merc's stomach.

Gasping wetly, the merc placed both hands over his newest injury in a vain attempt to staunch the flow of purple blood.

After making sure the merc had no medpacks on him, Shepard turned away. "You'll live long enough for me to find someone else," he coldly said.

Before he could take two steps, the merc shouted, "Wait!"

Looking over his shoulder, Shepard saw him reaching out to him before groaning and putting both his hands on his wound again.

"T-the Shadow Broker. W-w-we work for him," the turian muttered before spitting out some blood. "T-the job was L-Liara T'soni and some s-s-salarian she called a few hours ago…"

"How did you know to find her here? And how did you know what she was up to?" Shepard asked.

"I-I don't know. I'm just a g-grunt. Got m-my orders and f-f-followed them," he answered before groaning. "I-I'm dying here, human."

"That's kind of the point," Shepard said with an uncaring shrug. "You should've talked sooner. Now all you can do is talk faster. Liara. Where is she?"

"D-didn't see her… Got o-orders… S-still l-l-looking."

"What about the salarian? Did you kill him?"

"N-n-no…"

"Why don't I believe you?"

"O-orders were t-to p-prepare for you. Another t-t-t-team was going d-deeper in to c-confirm the s-s-s-salarian… L-look, I told you what I-I know. The c-c-commander knows more. He got his o-orders from s-some-o-one else. I-I don't know w-who," the merc said. "The c-c-commander gave the orders to u-use the b-bombs."

Nodding, Shepard tossed a medpack at the man. "You'll probably live."

The turian's eyes widened. "Y-you're g-gonna just l-l-leave me h-here?"

Shepard's eyes narrowed, though the expression was hidden behind his Kestrel Helmet. He stalked back to the merc, gripped his head and forced him to look at the corner of the office. There was an asari slumped there with her body riddled with bullet holes. "I got a bunch of innocent civilians outside that need medical attention from an attack you and your friends were responsible for. Who the hell do you think I'll give a damn about more?"

The merc fell silent and reached out for the medpack.

Shepard got up and left without another word.

**~o~O~o~**

"_How did they know Liara was coming here?"_ Garrus muttered. _"That message was hidden too well and the police were everywhere. There was no way for anyone to beat us here."_

"_Not to mention how careful Liara has been so far. She wouldn't make a mistake like this, especially knowing that whoever attacked her apartment is still out there," _Tali added.

"_Clearly, we're underestimating the Shadow Broker's information network and the speed it travels at," _Miranda said. _"Considering they were prepared for our arrival, this might even be more dangerous than our mission at Horizon."_

"_Joy,"_ came Shepard's deadpan reply. After leaving the office, he asked EDI if she had the floor plans for the Dracon Trade Center and a more specific location of Sekat's office space yet. She came through and uploaded the schematics to his omni-tool. Once he had confirmed their destination, he led the way, keeping a wary eye for more mercenaries. No one commented, remarked or joked about his enhanced interrogation techniques.

_ "I'm not sure if I should be grateful or sorry that I wasn't with you on that mission,"_ Tali said.

"_Both, I think,"_ Garrus joked. He half turned to Shepard. _"You know they're probably trying to set up another ambush for us, right?"_

"_Yep."_

"_Got a plan?"_

"_Yep."_

When Shepard didn't answer immediately, Miranda cleared her throat to get his attention. _"And that plan is?"_

"_Next best place to try and ambush us is a cafeteria ahead of us and the stairs after that,"_ Shepard answered after consulting his omni-tool one last time. _"Sekat's office is above us and past a door that leads into the manager's offices."_

"_And of course, we probably have a team of mercs between us and there," _Garrus muttered.

"_Plan is simple : Flashbang and clear the ambush sites, find Liara, and get the hell out," _Shepard said. _"Don't let anything stop us."_

"_Nice. Always keep it simple,"_ Garrus said appreciatively. _"Flashbang or high explosive?"_

"_Use both. I'm not picky," _Shepard said before grimly adding,_ "The reality is: all the civilians here are probably already dead."_

"_At least we know the mercenaries haven't found Liara yet,"_ Tali added.

To their surprise though, the suspected ambush sites were devoid of anyone. Given how many more there was supposed to be, it made Shepard's hackles rise and his team grew ever more cautious.

"_Vasir, have you encountered any mercs on your end?"_ Shepard asked.

Nothing.

"_Vasir?"_

"_I'm not getting anything,"_ Miranda said after a few more silent seconds.

Narrowing his eyes, but seeing no other alternative, he led everyone through the various rooms and hallways till they finally reached the door where Sekat's office was supposed to be. During their approach, several gunshots were heard, forcing them to adopt a breaching maneuver. Garrus and Tali were stacked on one side of the door, with Shepard and Miranda on the other. Tali activated her omni-tool and remotely opened the door.

Shepard peered around the corner and was ready to toss a flashbang inside when he spotted his colleague. _"Hold fire!"_

Inside, Vasir had her back to them and was calmly holstering her HMWP. Around her were at least six more Shadow Broker mercenaries. "Damn it. Late by a few seconds."

She gestured to the body of a salarian slumped along the wall nearby.

Shepard knelt down and checked the ID tag. "It's Sekat."

Tali looked around the room. "But where's Liara? I didn't see her at all."

Garrus nodded in agreement. "Me niether."

"Is the data still on him?" Miranda asked. "Maybe she got it and left before we got here; maybe we just missed her."

Shepard patted the salarian's pockets before shaking his head. "Nothing. Check the other mercs."

Garrus and Miranda picked among the bodies Vasir had taken down but came up empty as well.

"Damn," Shepard cursed. "Looks like a dead end here."

"Speaking of which…"

He turned to Vasir.

"I didn't see your friend's body on my in either. With all the bodies… are you sure you didn't miss her on the way in?" she asked.

"You mean **this** body?"

**~o~O~o~**

Whirling as one, everyone saw Liara walk out from the shadows, in full armor and pointing a Predator at Vasir with a cold expression.

Shepard fingered the trigger guard on his HMWA as he looked between both asari. He knew Liara wouldn't point a weapon carelessly at just anyone, but Vasir was a Spectre agent. "Liara, what's going on?"

"This is the woman that tried to kill me," Liara snarled.

Vasir narrowed her eyes. When her right hand inched closer to her holstered side arm, Liara tensed up, keeping her weapon raised, but more menacingly now instead of cautiously. The asari Spectre chuckled humorously at the action. "You've had a rough night, so I'll let that slide . Now, why don't you drop the gun… before I drop **you**?"

"Are you sure about her, Liara?" Garrus asked. His Reverent was lowered, but his posture was tense and alert. He was keeping his profile pointed toward Vasir and Shepard knew that in a heartbeat, the turian could raise his weapon and gun her down in no time at all.

"I saw her. I doubled back and I waited. She was the one that broke into my apartment before the police arrived," Liara replied. Her eyes remained trained on Vasir the entire time. "Fully armed and looking for me."

Miranda was just as tense as Garrus now. "A Spectre-class sniper rifle would have the power to breach the kinetic barriers and damage those windows…"

Tali had no words to offer, but her combat drone was now up and circling around her, prepared to strike at any target she commanded.

Something clicked in Shepard's mind. The moment that thought took form, he narrowed his eyes and leveled his rifle at Vasir. The rest of his team did the same unquestioningly.

Vasir didn't look fazed, but certainly didn't look happy either. "You sure you wanna do that, Shepard?"

"How did you know these mercs were working for the Shadow Broker? For that matter, how did you even know he was involved? I never mentioned anything about him," Shepard growled. "All of this was you?"

Now Vasir looked cross at her slip. "Clever."

"You didn't know where Liara went, so you needed us to do the leg work," Shepard said before his expression darkened. "You called these mercs? You staged this attack? The assault? The bombs? All just to kill Liara?"

Vasir shrugged. "Thanks for the help. Too bad they missed though. If it matters, it wasn't personal. Just owed him a favor."

"I'm guessing she still has the disk on her," Liara hissed.

"Good guess," Vasir sneered. "Not that you'll ever see what's on it, you pureblood bitch."

"Drop your weapons. **Now,**" Shepard commanded.

She scoffed at him. "Don't get cocky, Shepard. Just because you took down Saren doesn't mean you're the best in this business, not by a long shot. After all, I still got centuries of experience over… **you!**"

The moment the words left her mouth, the glass window behind her shattered; with her biotic aura flaring to life, she hurl ed the shards at Shepard and his team.

Shepard had seen this kind of attack before. Morinth –an Ardat-Yakshi and Samara's estranged daughter– did the same thing to him and the Justicar.

The only difference this time: he was a much more experienced biotic than he was a few short months ago.

He quickly erected a biotic barrier –and saw that Liara was quick to do the same– to protect themselves and the team from the lethal projectiles. The moment the glass storm ended, Shepard dropped his barrier and dashed forward. Vasir turned around and ran for the open window, but he caught up and tackled her. They tumbled over the precipice and fell to the second floor atrium. The both of them utilized their biotic abilities to slow their descent as they struggled to gain dominance in their dangerous mid-air dance.

Shepard took advantage of their close proximity to viciously head-butt her, using his helmet to maximum effect against her unprotected head. Vasir's head rocked backward, blood spraying from a broken nose. Next, he cocked his right arm.

Vasir's experience in biotics came to play here though. She managed to see what he was doing and twisted them around before using her own biotic throw at the same time he used his.

Shepard saw the ploy too late. Vasir had turned them quickly enough that he was on the bottom of their tumble. Her biotic throw sent him straight into the ground where his hard landing knocked the wind out of his lungs.

For her part, Vasir was thrown back and collided with a wall, but was still airborne. She masterfully used her biotics to land with a much more reasonable amount of force. Clambering to her feet, she drew her HMWP while Shepard tried to get his bearings back quickly enough to reengage.

Thankfully, he was saved by the burst of gunfire from above. Garrus and Miranda were perched on the balcony, both of them firing away with their Reverent and Pulse Rifle respectively, at the asari Spectre.

Seeing that she was outnumbered, outgunned and caught in the open, Vasir turned and ran.

Liara leapt from the balcony and used her biotics to gracefully land before giving chase.

"Liara!" Shepard called out. He finally got his feet under him and followed.

From behind him, he could hear Miranda shout, "Let's go!"

Knowing that the others would be hot on their heels, Shepard tried to keep up with both asari, but Vasir had a head start and Liara's speed was driven by whatever kept her going for the last two years.

Two mercs appeared on the far doorway. Vasir ran past them without a second look. When they tried to stop Liara though, she merely tossed them both aside with her biotics as if they were only nuisances. Even from his distance to them, Shepard could hear their bones break when they collided with the walls.

"Where the hell are you?" Vasir shouted. "Shepard's behind me! I need backup!"

"_Shepard? ! Do you read me? !"_

"_I read you, Jacob!"_ Shepard answered. Rounding a corner, he saw both Vasir and Liara leaping from another balcony to the ground floor lobby. He followed immediately; using his biotics the way Samara had taught him, he slowed his fall before sprinting again as he tried to keep pace with both women.

"_We intercepted some sort of mercenary force. Whoever these clowns are, they aren't Eclipse. Look s like they were coming to crash your party!"_

"_I'll explain later! More are probably on the way and Liara and I are in pursuit of the shot-caller! Work with local law enforcement and keep them off our backs!"_ Shepard ordered. _"EDI will keep track of us and let you know where we are!"_

"_Understood, Shepard!"_ Jacob acknowledged.

Hearing gunfire outside now, Shepard sidled to the doorway, took a quick peek before dashing out of the front entrance and slid ing behind a concrete planter, drawing his HMWP as he did so. Not far from his position, Liara and Vasir were trading gunshots.

Liara was at a disadvantage though. Her Predator pistol was hardly a match for the HMWA Vasir was armed with. But when the asari Spectre saw that Shepard had arrived, she cursed under her breath and used her omni-tool to signal her skycar.

"_Shepard, we're almost to the front door,"_ Garrus said. _"A few mercs were in our way, but we took care of them."_

"_Liara and I got Vasir pinned down in the parking lot!"_ he replied. _"I'll try to flank her and—"_

He trailed off when he heard the familiar whine of a skycar. Looking up, he cursed when he saw Vasir's yellow getaway vehicle fly overhead before hovering near her.

"_Son-of-a-bitch! She's gonna get away!"_ he shouted.

Liara abandoned her cover and gave chase to the fleeing Spectre. Vasir leapt from the precipice of the parking lot and gracefully landed on top of her car. Clambering inside, she quickly sped away.

"No! She still has the data!" Liara screamed.

"Liara!" Shepard called out.

Liara turned around and saw him hacking into the controls of a taxi. The engine purred to life in seconds.

"Get in!" he said.

Liara practically leapt into the passenger seat. "Hurry!"

"I'm fine, by the way. Thanks for asking," Shepard sarcastically said. He impatiently waved to the rest of his team to hurry them up when they finally appeared. Miranda, Garrus, and Tali bolted out the front doors of the building and climbed into the rear seats.

"Come on! She's getting away!" Liara urged.

"Hang on!" he warned.

"Wait, Shepard's driving? !" Tali asked in horrified realization. "Maybe we should—**Ahhhhhh! ! !**"

The car roared into the air and before lurching downward at an alarming speed in pursuit of Vasir's yellow skycar.

"Perhaps this was a bad idea!" Liara cried out.

"You think? !" Garrus shouted.

"I see her!" Shepard pointed out.

"Jacob! We're in pursuit of target! Follow our signal!" Miranda said. "She's flying in a yellow skycar, and just left the Dracon Trade Center!"

"_Yeah, I'm tracking you!" _Jacob answered. _"Everyone, back into the shuttle! Leave those guys to the cops!"_

"How far away are you? !"

"_Not far… holy shit! What are you guys driving? Your beacons are going crazy fast!"_ Jacob exclaimed.

"_10 to 1, it's Shepard that's driving,"_ Jack said.

"Just try to keep up," Miranda muttered darkly as she fiddled with her seatbelt and made sure it was securely fastened. The others did the same.

"Where the hell did she go?" Shepard asked aloud. He was recklessly weaving between cars that were in his way. His eyes roamed the lanes, looking for any signs of disturbances that showed Vasir's desperate attempt to flee. His attention zoomed onto a group of skycars that suddenly swerved out of the way, horns blaring angrily.

"There she is!" Liara shouted and pointed at their target.

"I got her!" Shepard responded and accelerated their skycar through the path Vasir had created.

"Hang a right!" Liara directed before shaking her head when Vasir's feint from one direction to the next was executed. "No, wait! Left!"

"I'm on her!" Shepard growled. He'd seen the feint in time and had turned left early, allowing his vehicle to gain precious ground. It was clear that Vasir's skycar was a great deal more advanced, so he knew it would come down to driver skill to overcome that disadvantage.

_No way in hell I'm going to let you beat me, Vasir._

Vasir's car banked a hard left, exiting the skylanes and gambled on a more risky set of maneuvers to escape. She started driving in between skyscrapers before suddenly turning a corner to break line of sight.

Shepard followed, making sure to avoid tunnel vision by keeping his eyes open and roaming. When Vasir turned, he slammed on the brakes and turned as well, but his car wasn't as precise. It drifted wide, moving precariously close to opposite building s; everyone could see their reflections in the building's windows.

Turning hard and accelerating to compensate for the drift, the rear end nearly spun out of control, but he violently turned the car to the opposite direction, restored equilibrium and was driving straight again.

"Ha! Perfect turn!" Shepard crowed.

"Keelah!" Tali screamed. "Are you crazy? ! We nearly died!"

"Oh, god," Miranda said when she saw where they were going next.

"We're not going into that construction site, are—" Liara started to ask when the car only accelerated more. "Oh, Goddess…"

The sounds of whipping wind echoed through the cabin when both Vasir and Shepard started driving to and fro through the construction site. A forest of large metal beams, struts, and enormous construction vehicles and cranes filled their vision now.

The occupants in Shepard's car became eerily silent. As much as they wanted to voice their complaints, they knew it would serve no purpose now. All they could do was wince and avert their eyes every time the skycar flew dangerously close to the obstacles Shepard was forced to dodge or navigate around.

The peace was broken into a chorus of shouts and screams when a horizontal beam appeared in their current flight path after Shepard took a sharp right around a blind corner. He dived sharply, just cutting underneath the beam only to level the car quickly to avoid plowing into the ground. With only inches to spare from both top and bottom as the car sped on, Liara, Miranda, Garrus and Tali were shocked into silence once more. All four of them were sitting identically, ramrod straight, staring straight ahead , and clutching their seatbelts. When they finally left the construction site, there was a universal sigh of relief.

"You know, I've never, **ever**, entertained the idea of mutiny… not once. As a quarian, it's unthinkable… but now…" Tali grumbled under breath.

"We should really talk to him about this someday," Miranda concurred. "If we live."

"An intervention. Definitely," Garrus agreed, though there was a comical squeak in his voice that he cleared quickly before repeating his statement in what he hoped was in a more masculine tone.

The chase soon led back into the skyways again. Making another hard right, both vehicles were soon blitzing through Bellaphae Avenue, eventually going into a tunnel beneath Karas Tower and Arnyas Plaza.

"Slow down! One way tunnel! One way!" Liara shouted.

"I'm aware of that!" Shepard growled. He focused intently on the incoming vehicles, especially the ones that Vasir displaced in her bid to escape. More than once, he had to sacrifice speed to drive around cars that were desperately swerving around Vasir's skycar.

When traffic built up far too much ahead of her, Vasir eventually abandoned her attempt to bury her pursuers and turned left into Hespras Street. Upon leaving the tunnel, the immediate area was devoid of cars which allowed Vasir's more advanced and faster skycar to push ahead.

"Damn it!" Shepard cursed. His skycar's engine was in a constant whine now, protesting against the abuse he was putting it through.

"She's getting away!" Liara shouted.

"No, she's not," he stubbornly asserted.

"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!" she urged.

"I'm going!"

"You need to go faster!"

"Didn't you say I needed to slow down before? !"

"Now I'm saying to speed up!"

"Will you let me drive? ! I'm trying to concentrate on those proximity mines!" he snarled before the words clicked in his head. He frowned before simply saying: "Shit."

"Look out!" Garrus shouted.

One of the mines exploded off the car's right flank, but Shepard managed to turn left to avoid the bulk of the blast.

"Proximity charges!" Liara gasped.

"I noticed," Shepard muttered angrily. "Damn her. I want a car like that."

"I think the galaxy would be much better off if you didn't," Miranda retorted.

With several building's looming in her way, Vasir lost her speed advantage. She was forced to slow down and turn in a series of left and rights. Cleverly, she left the mines around the turns though, but Shepard was persistent. He either drifted through the turns making a wide berth around the mines whilst getting ready for the next turn and avoided sacrificing too much speed, or flew up and above the mines before driving downward to increase his velocity on the straightaways. A few charges went off which caused the car to rattle from the shockwave, but no real damage was taken.

After dodging several more mines, Vasir's driving soon became more frantic. In the end, her efforts were wasted and all she did was circle around back to Arnyas Plaza and was heading for the tunnels again.

"Is that all you got? !" Shepard shouted.

"Incoming!" Garrus warned. "Looks like she's got reinforcements!"

A truckbed filled with more of the Shadow Broker's mercenaries flew right above them. Those in the rear opened fire at them.

"What kind of guns does this thing have?" Shepard asked. He started making a series of tight turns to avoid the gunfire while trying to keep pace with Vasir.

"Guns?" Miranda repeated in exasperation.

"It's a taxi!" Liara said. She pointed at the console right next to Shepard's elbow. "It has a fare meter!"

"Wonderful," he muttered. Out of spite, he slammed on the meter angrily, causing it to chirp out angrily.

"_Hey, did we miss much?"_ Kasumi asked cheerfully.

"_Damn, Captain. Trying to keep up with you makes me wonder if I should go back to flight school,"_ Hawthorne joked. _"No worries, though! We're here!"_

"_Got a lock on that bogie," _Goldstein said.

"_No civilian vehicles around! Light that bastard up!" _Jacob said.

A missile streaked through the air and struck the mercenary truck, sending it in flames towards the ground, miles below.

"_Smoked him!"_ Goldstein cheered.

The Kodiak was flying alongside them now.

"It's about time!" Shepard said.

"_Sorry, bad traffic!" _Hawthorne cheekily replied.

"_Hey, Jack! Look! You're on the big screen!" _Kasumi teased.

"_What?"_ Jack asked before saying,_ "Oh, shit, I am."_

Against his will, Shepard's eyes moved away from the skyway and to one of the many giant advertising monitors . Jack's picture was indeed up, both portrait and profile, along with her prisoner number: 24601. In addition, there was a general notice stating that she was an extremely dangerous criminal and that the local authorities should be notified immediately. A long running list extolling her crimes scrolled along the side.

"_What the fuck, Shepard? I thought you were gonna handle that shit!"_ Jack complained.

"Slipped my mind. I'll get on it whenever we return to the Citadel. I need to access the Spectre offices," Shepard muttered apologetically. He turned his attention back to the chase.

"Are you really going to talk about this now? !" Miranda shouted. "Look out!"

The larger Kodiak pulled up and away from the tunnel that was becoming increasingly congested with skycars from their earlier drive-thru. Vasir recklessly flew in.

"_Sorry, Captain! Kodiak's too big! I can't follow you through that! Don't worry; we'll keep those mercs off of you while we circle around!" _Hawthorne said.

Shepard acknowledged Hawthorne's apology and drove into the tunnel. His skycar was closing in on Vasir's when she dropped another proximity mine right next to a large truck that was driving on the opposite lane.

The explosion caused it to swerve wildly, swinging its payload perpendicular with the tunnel and creating an impromptu blockade.

"Truck!" Liara cried out.

"I know," Shepard replied tightly. He didn't deviate from his course however.

"**Truck!"**

"**I know!"** he yelled.

"Not again!" Garrus shouted and covered his eyes. "Tell me this isn't happening again!"

Watching the incoming truck carefully, Shepard finally spotted his gap along the left wall and made a sharp turn toward it.

"We're not going to fit!" Tali screamed.

"We'll fit!" Shepard barked back.

"We're not going to fit!"

"We'll fit, we'll fit, we'll fit!"

He twisted the car sharply causing it to fly 90 degrees off its horizontal axis. All the passengers screamed when they suddenly felt like falling toward the right side of the car.

The top and bottom scraped along the truck and wall respectively before the skycar righted itself and made another sharp turn to get back into their regular lanes, miraculously avoid all the incoming traffic that was trying to stop to before colliding with the overturned truck.

"There we go. See? I knew we'd fit," Shepard boasted.

"I don't think that counts," Miranda argued.

"I can't believe you! You're actually enjoying this!" Liara shouted. "This is worse than the Mako!"

"Déjà vu," Shepard chuckled.

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Voyager Cluster / Amazon System / Agebinium**_

_**-Two years ago**_

"Uh… cliff," Liara pointed out.

"I know," Shepard said. The Mako didn't slow down or change course though. If anything, it rumbled even faster.

"**Cliff!"**

"I know!"

"Let me out… please…" Garrus pleaded. He was clutching his harness tightly in the back seat.

Liara screamed before gasping.

"See? I knew the Mako would make the distance!" Shepard boasted when the IFV jumped the gap before landing roughly on the other side.

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium**_

_**-Present Time**_

"Heh, good times," Shepard chuckled.

"I hate you," Garrus grumbled.

They left the tunnels behind and the chase led back into the open sky. This time, the skylane Vasir flew into was filled with other skycars. She made a turn into oncoming traffic, daring Shepard to follow.

"Oh, Goddess… a head-on collision at this speed…" Liara fearfully said.

"Yeah, I hear those can be bad for you," Shepard sarcastically replied. He still followed Vasir into the one-way skylane though.

His reflexes and reaction times were tested as he evaded the swerving skycars that were honking angrily at both him and Vasir. There were way too many close calls for his liking, but he was slowly gaining on her. It was a matter of who would make the first mistake.

Hoping to create a distraction, he took a chance and started flashing his lights at her car, either to taunt or blind her.

_Here's hoping she kept an eye on the rear camera…_

Shepard grimly smiled when Vasir was too slow to see the truck ahead. She had banked right to move her car out of his flashing lights in order to properly see him on her rear camera only to nearly collide with an incoming car. She wildly swerved left to avoid it and almost drove directly head-on with the truck instead. She tried to escape by making a full turn to the right, but her car got clipped in the rear, cause her to spin out.

"**Truck!"** Liara screamed.

"Here we go again," Shepard muttered. He was already turning though and avoided the dangers ahead of time.

By the time Vasir got control of her skycar, Shepard finally caught up with her and pulled alongside. He got close enough that he could see the shocked expression on her face, causing him to smirk at her.

She sneered back at him and rammed the left side of her skycar into his. He anticipated the maneuver and turned left at the last moment to take much of the force away as well as gain a measure of distance before he retaliated. His car smashed into hers violently, but Vasir held control and continued to joust with him.

Shepard maintained his aggressive attack. Turning left and right over and over again to force Vasir out of control. She matched him move for move. Their cars crunched and sparked from the multiple impacts.

An incoming car honked loudly, forcing them to break off. Using the momentary respite, Shepard dropped altitude the moment line of sight was broken by the passing skycar.

Vasir's car swerved left, intent on continuing to try to smash her car into his. However, her car moved too far to the left when it met nothing but empty air.

The moment Vasir was in position, Shepard flew straight upward, ramming the top of his car into the underside of hers. His surprise attack caught her off guard. Once again, her car flew wildly out of control.

He watched with satisfaction when Vasir's skycar got clipped by two others. The two civilian cars continued to fly, unsteadily, but managed to remain airborne. The same couldn't be said for Vasir. The rear engine of her skycar had erupted into flames, exacerbated from her earlier collision with the truck. It was sent crashing into a balcony of a hotel called Azure.

Flying overhead, Shepard looked down at the crash site, circling around to see if Vasir was alive or dead.

He spotted movement among the wreckage. Vasir kicked open the door, and stumbled out, landing on her chest before rolling to her back. She was clutching her abdomen, showing that she was clearly injured. She balefully glared up at him, before lurching back to her feet. Picking through her downed vehicle, she retrieved her armaments and some medi-gel before administering emergency field aid on herself.

Shepard looked around for a place to land. Spotting an open patio not far from where she crashed, he descended quickly.

Seeing that he was still in pursuit, Vasir put pressure on her wound and sought shelter inside the building.

"Jacob, we're at a hotel called Azure. What's your location?" Shepard asked when he put the skycar down.

"_Not far. We're on the way. Looks like more mercs are converging on your position. We'll chase them off before regrouping."_

"Negative. Let the police handle them. Go around to the other side of the hotel and secure an LZ over there," Shepard ordered. "Our target is a purple-hued asari called Tela Vasir. She has vital data on her , so we need her in one piece , dead or alive. Surround her and make sure she doesn't escape."

"_Got it."_

"One more thing. Vasir is a Spectre. She's well-armed, dangerous, and skilled. **Don't** underestimate her," he warned.

"_Understood."_

The landing was rough, but Liara didn't care. The moment the doors opened, she leapt out and ran for the hotel.

"Hurry!" she urged. "She won't be able to get very far with those injuries!"

"Look out, above us!" Garrus shouted.

"We're okay, the Kodiak is behind them!" Tali pointed out.

Two more ships belonging to the Shadow Broker's mercenaries were coming to intercept them, but Hawthorne's aggressive flight patterns drove them off.

"_Is that all you got?" _he crowed.

"Inside everyone! Now!" Miranda called out.

The four of them entered the closest door that would lead them to Vasir's crash site. It led into one of the numerous rooms in the hotel. Given how posh it appeared, it was probably one of the high-end suites. They could hear a woman quietly crying nearby.

"Check your fire," Shepard quietly said to his team. "We'll have plenty of civilians around here this time."

"Please let me live. Please let me live. I'll do mantras every week. I'll give to charity. I'll go to the Citadel and get a good job, I swear." The woman's voice continued to prattle on and prayed for mercy or divine intervention from the next room over.

Shepard peeked around the corner before carefully checking the room with his weapon raised. Garrus covered his flank.

The asari and human male both raised their arms fearfully.

"Hey, we're unarmed! We didn't see anything!" the man pleaded.

"Relax, we're the good guys. Just stay put, and keep your head down," Garrus assured. "Is there anyone else here?"

They shook their heads.

"It's clear," Shepard announced once the sweep was done and took point again. He led his team out of the room and towards the balcony that Vasir's skycar had crashed on. Part of the car was inside the living room while the rest was resting outside.

"Um… exactly what kind of hotel is this?" Tali asked. She was staring at the large monitor where a vid was playing. Several scantily clad asari were dancing seductively on it.

Liara looked a bit flustered before clearing her throat. "Azure is a luxury resort with a… 'exotic' edge. 'Azure' is slang for a part of the asari body in some areas of Illium."

"Where?"

"Mainly the lower reaches, near the bottom," Liara answered.

Tali shook her head. "No, I meant, 'Where on the asari body'?"

"So did I," Liara replied with a straight face.

"Oh," Tali quietly responded and fell silent.

Shepard and Garrus chuckled.

"Men. I swear, no matter the species…" Miranda retorted with a roll of her eyes. Liara sighed in resignation and nodded in agreement.

**~o~O~o~**

_**Location: Crescent Nebula / Tasale / Illium / Azure Luxury Resort**_

"Blood trails," Garrus pointed out. "Looks like she got hurt in the crash. Should slow her down."

"I saw," Shepard said. "She had time to do some first aid though. Let's hurry."

The squad followed Vasir's bloody footprints and splatters. Shepard noted that the amount of violet blood was significant at the crash site, but slowly lessened in volume the further along they travelled.

"Looks like she lost a lot of blood. Still can't believe she's able to run from us," Garrus muttered.

"She's tough, I'll give her that much," Shepard grudgingly admitted.

"She's a Spectre," Liara simply replied. "Would an injury like this slow **you** down?"

Shepard grunted in agreement, but didn't say anything further. In his mind, that explained everything. Vasir was one of the best the asari had to offer to even be considered a Spectre candidate, and had to rise above that to be indicted into their ranks.

His reasoning was simple: To fight a trained operative, he had to assume that Vasir was as good as he was, if not better. If their positions had been reversed, he knew he wouldn't let injuries of any kind stop him if he had to outrun or engage his pursuers. Worse yet, he believed that if he were in Vasir's boots right now, he wouldn't run far; Just far enough to make time to prepare an ambush and fight back on her terms.

"_Shepard, Jacob here. We're boots on the ground on the other side of the hotel. Haven't seen your Spectre buddy yet,"_ Jacob reported. _"We're clearing out the civvies and making our way to your position."_

"_Understood."_

"Shouldn't we evacuate the building?" Tali asked.

"No," Liara answered tersely. "She'd use the chaos and panic to slip away. I need that data."

"Easy, Liara," Shepard said.

"Sorry," the asari contritely said to him and Tali. "But I can't let this chance slip by. The only reason the Shadow Broker would send a Spectre was because I'm too close. I may never get another chance like this again."

"She won't get away," Shepard assured quietly.

The team followed the fading blood trail until it finally ended within the building. The door had a bloody handprint on it, but past the threshold, any further visible signs of their foe had vanished.

"Damn," he cursed. "Jacob, any sign of Vasir?"

"_Nothing so far. We're splitting up to try to cover more ground. Grunt is holding the stairs and Jack is at the elevators. Kasumi and I are roaming. Only way down now is to sprout wings and fly."_

Shepard frowned when the word 'fly' entered his thoughts. "We're splitting up too. Tali, go back to our skycar. Vasir might try to double back and steal our ride. Disable it and find a place to hide. If Vasir shows up, don't try to take her on by yourself. Just call us and watch her carefully."

"On it," Tali said. She turned around and retraced their steps.

"Garrus, hitch a ride with Hawthorne and find a perch on any of the neighboring buildings that you think is best to get an eye on Vasir when she pops up."

"Going," Garrus replied. He walked down the hallway. "Hawthorne? Need a pickup. Transmit coordinates."

He turned to the remaining women. "You two watch each other's backs and follow me at a discreet distance… as discreet as you can be with weapons and armor on."

"What are you going to do?" Miranda asked.

"Be the bait."

**~o~O~o~**

_Not the smartest idea you've ever had._

Shepard stalked the halls and rooms in plain sight. Considering he was in full armor and bearing armaments amongst a cadre of civilians, there was little point in subtlety. Some of the resort guests that he came across seemed to understand his presence and made themselves scarce. Others were openly gawking; he ordered them to run and hide immediately.

Considering how well Vasir could shoot, standing in the open wasn't exactly the brightest move, but her injuries might still tilt the advantage in his favor. He didn't bother to look around to see if Liara or Miranda were still shadowing him in case Vasir had already spotted him. He wasn't an amateur and there was little sense in tipping his hand, but he hoped they were able to get eyes on Vasir before she could get eyes on them.

Streams of chatter and laughter could be heard now when he approached an open door. It led to an outside patio filled with civilians in the midst of having some sort of party.

Shepard grimaced at the sight and looked around. His frown deepened when he noticed that the guests weren't overly surprised to see a well-armed and armored individual walking into their soiree. Some were pointing at him, and then glancing to the opposite side of the patio.

"_Ladies? Possible sighting. North side of the building, outside patio. Careful. Lots of civilians here," _he said. He quickly picked up his pace, pushing apart the crowds to reach the other side.

"_We'll go through the building and cut her off,"_ Liara said. _"We'll let you know if we see her. Stay on her."_

"_Got it,"_ Shepard said. _"Garrus?"_

"_Luck is on my side. I picked the north side to watch. Hold on, lemme try to find you…"_

Shepard moved through the partygoers. They parted like the Red Sea, still wondering what he was doing at their party. Through the various snippets he heard, Vasir did pass through them as well and not long ago.

"_I see you,"_ Garrus said. _"More importantly… Yeah, I see her."_

"_Got a shot?"_

"_Not a clean one—oh, crap."_

A scream pierced the air, causing a wave of chaos to ripple through the civilians. Those furthest away stopped and murmured amongst themselves, wondering what was going on. The people closest to the event were adding their own shouts and pushed their way towards any exit as far from the conflict as possible.

Shepard shoved the fleeing people out of his way. _"What happened? !"_

"_Cowardly bitch just grabbed a hostage,"_ Garrus growled. _"You should have eyes on her soon."_

"Shepard! I know you're here! Come out, slowly!" Vasir shouted over the din of screams.

When the throngs of panicking people finally thinned, Shepard narrowed his eyes at the scene before him and raised his HMWP.

Vasir was holding a woman in front of her as a shield. Her left arm was wrapped tightly around the hostage's neck to hold her in place while her right hand pressed her HMWP tightly into the human woman's right flank.

"Let her go!" Shepard barked. He slowly inched closer to both women.

"Not another step!" Vasir shouted. She pressed the barrel of her pistol roughly into her captive's ribs, cause her to cry out. "Don't test me."

Shepard stopped his advance, but kept his own pistol trained on Vasir.

"Weapons down, Shepard," Vasir hissed. "Or I promise, I **will** put a round into this woman's liver and she will die… slowly and painfully."

"You're surrounded, Vasir," Shepard said. "We got all the exits covered. You're wounded and in no shape to fight me or my team. It's time to stop running and surrender while you still can."

Vasir merely sneered back and leaned close into her hostage's ear. "What's your name? Say it loudly so he can hear."

"M-M-Mariana…"

Vasir jabbed her gun into the woman's ribs again. "Louder!"

"M-m-m-my name is M-M-Mariana!" she cried out.

"_They're standing too close to each other. I can't take this shot,"_ Garrus reported.

"_We're still trying to flank her," _Miranda said. _"Stall for time."_

"_Tali, we found Vasir. Regroup with us, right now,"_ Liara ordered.

"_I'm on my way!"_ Tali responded.

"_What about the rest of us?"_ Jacob asked.

"_Hold your positions,"_ Miranda answered since Shepard was too occupied with his standoff. _"We can't let Vasir escape. We'll handle the hostage situation."_

"_Roger."_

"Mariana, you want to live, don't you?" Vasir asked. Her eyes remained fixed on Shepard. "Tell him you want to live."

"P-please…"

Shepard clenched his teeth, but said nothing. His eyes studied Vasir's appearance. Globs of medi-gel and hastily wrapped bandages covered her torso. Congealing violet blood had seeped from the wound and created rivets of drying blood along her greaves. Fresh bruises and cuts marred her face, in addition to the broken nose; the latter was courtesy of Shepard.

"All you had to do was walk away," Vasir snarled. "Now it gets ugly."

"N-n-no… please… I-I have a s-son…" Mariana whimpered. Tears were streaming down her face. She clutched at Vasir's arm but lacked the strength to pull away.

"A son? I hope he gets to see you again," Vasir cooed mockingly. "I've heard losing a parent is just horrific for children. Scars them for life."

"You have nothing left, Vasir," Shepard growled out. "Surrender or I **will** end you."

"You want Mariana's little boy to grow up without a mommy, Shepard?" Vasir shot back. "Drop your weapons. All of them. Right now."

Shepard didn't flinch. His gun remained up and ready.

"Did you hear me?" Vasir asked menacingly.

"I heard you fine," Shepard said. "Now give up."

"I'll kill her," she warned.

"And after that? You have no more moves," he replied in a dangerous tone. "It'll be just you and me and you're wounded. Let her go and maybe you'll live. Kill her and your end will be as long and as painful as I can manage. Even the worst scum on Omega would flinch at what I'll do to you."

"You're bluffing," she snarled.

"Spectres do whatever it takes to get the job done," Shepard said. He deliberately took a step closer.

Vasir took a step back in response. "That's right."

"Don't forget… I'm a Spectre too."

It was a dangerous bluff, but he had to be cruel to be kind. If Vasir knew he wouldn't even blink to rescuing a hostage, then she'd have all the leverage she needed.

"You wouldn't," she said.

"Wouldn't I? You've read my record. I held the line at the Skyllian Blitz, sacrificed a third of the Alliance's Fifth Fleet with each ship filled with hundreds of human lives, unleashed the Rachni on the galaxy, hunted Saren down from one end of the galaxy to the other, killed a powerful asari matriarch and her asari commando squad, and destroyed the Collectors," Shepard coldly replied. "You and the Broker? Just another Tuesday for me."

"Well, maybe I'll just use Mariana as a human shield then," Vasir responded with a sneer. Clutching her hostage closer, she pointed her HMWP at Shepard. She started moving backward.

Shepard moved with her, only to be shot at by Vasir. He didn't flinch though since his shields were able to protect him. A quick glance at his HUD showed that he wouldn't be able to take too many hits though. Not surprising considering the power HMW weaponry tended to have.

"_Hold on, Shepard. I might have a shot here. Keep her still," _Garrus suddenly said.

Shepard stopped moving.

"Good boy, Shepard. Just stay right there," Vasir taunted as she continued to inch backward.

Shepard shot once. The bullet pinged off the ground near Vasir and Mariana's feet. The human woman screamed briefly in fear while the asari Spectre frowned and ceased moving.

"I have to ask: are you really a Spectre?" Shepard rhetorically asked. "Because this is pathetic."

Vasir narrowed her eyes at him.

"_Keep her there, Shepard,"_ Garrus instructed. _"I got a crosswind here. Gimme a moment and I'll get a clean shot."_

"_Miranda and I are behind her now," _Liara informed. _"We'll wait for our opportunity and strike."_

"_I'm coming up behind you, Shepard," _Tali said. _"I'll stay out of sight until the shooting starts."_

"_We're still holding all the exits. She won't get past us,"_ Jacob assured.

"I expected a lot better. I expected grenades and improvised IED's on blind corners. I expected biotics. Hell, I expected you to jump around the corner, guns blazing," Shepard listed off before scoffing disdainfully. "But this? Running away, leaving a blood trail a blind vorcha could follow, and thinking one hostage will save you? We're beyond pathetic."

"You'd better shut up if you know what's good for you, Shepard," Vasir threatened.

"I'm shaking in my boots… really," he shot back vindictively. "Guess some people aren't cut out to be Spectres after all. Maybe you should find a new job. Hey, considering this place is an exotic resort, maybe you can apply here? Of course, you'll have to get your nose fixed. Can't say I'm too sorry about that, by the way."

"I mean it, shut your mouth—!"

"And what the hell is wrong with your driving? I commandeered a taxi and I still smoked you in your fancy skycar," he taunted. He lowered his sidearm and shrugged. "Just don't say the sun was in your eyes, please?"

Vasir looked apocalyptic. It was another dangerous gamble among a series of other risky maneuvers so far, but if her attitude was anything to go by, the asari Spectre had a lot of pride. It was only a matter of attacking her ego to make her careless.

He just hoped that he didn't overplay his hand when he lowered his pistol and presented himself as a target. If she was pissed enough, then there was bound to be tunnel vision through the red haze of anger she was probably glaring through.

Still holding Mariana in front of her, Vasir leveled her own HMWP at hi s head. "By the Goddess, I swear, I will put bullet through your brain you arrogant sack of—**ahhh!**"

The weapon in her hand shattered into pieces, causing her to jerk back in utter shock.

"**Mariana, get down!"** Shepard barked. At his shout, the woman dropped to the floor with her hands shielding her head. Calling on his biotics, he used a biotic throw to launch Vasir off her feet and over a dozen meters away from her hostage.

"_Damn it! I was aiming for her arm, not the gun!"_ Garrus complained.

"Tali, get Mariana out of here! Ladies, now is the time to make an entrance!" Shepard ordered.

Tali appeared from behind a column and grabbed Mariana. "Let's go! Run!" she said and pulled the human woman to safety.

Vasir howled in rage and drew her HMWA when a table struck her solidly from the side and sent her flying to the ornamental pond.

"Nice shot," Miranda praised to Liara.

"Thanks," Liara replied as her biotic aura faded.

The three of them approached the pond carefully, only to shield themselves when the water exploded in their direction.

Knowing it was only a distraction, Shepard forced himself to look back to try to spot Vasir though the curtain of water.

"_She's running!"_ Garrus informed. _"Not sure where she's going though. The doors are the other way—oh, wow…"_

With his friend's warning, Shepard finally spotted Vasir's form and darted after her. Instead of running back into the building, she was running toward the edge of the patio.

She leaned over the side for just a moment before jumping.

Shocked that she would do something like that, he ran to where she had jumped and looked over the edge before cursing and sprint ing down the length of the patio as fast as his legs would carry him, parallel to Vasir's motion.

"_Damn it! She's getting away!"_ Garrus cursed.

"_By the Goddess, what happened? !" _Liara asked.

"_She landed on top of a truck, 30 meters down! She's gonna—oh damn, Shepard!"_

With synthetic adrenaline flooding his veins, Shepard hoped he managed to overtake the truck. Without thinking about it anymore than he had to, he jumped off the precipice as well.

The back of his mind knew that if he missed, he would be remembered as a reckless fool. If he succeeded though, it would be something for the books considering his own history of insane stunts .

His heavy landing on the top of the truck forced him to roll with the impact to mitigate the momentum. Once he managed to get his feet under him, he looked up to see Vasir's shocked face melt into anger. She leveled her HMWA at him.

_Oh, shit._

In his haste, Shepard didn't even think about what to do next. Relying solely on instinct, a biotic barrier manifested around him to supplement his Kestrel Armor's shields just as Vasir opened fire.

Knowing that he didn't have time to draw his own weapon, he abstained from fighting fire with fire and decided to continue his pattern of unconventional methods. He ran at her and grabbed the rifle, idly noting that only a couple of seconds from that full-auto burst was enough to break down his biotic barrier and nearly drained his own personal shields. Thankfully, they were already recharging . Forcing the barrel of the weapon away from him, he struggled against the surprisingly strong asari as they fought for control of the rifle that was still shooting wildly.

Vasir remembered the last time they were in close proximity like this. She thrust her right knee into Shepard's left flank, causing him to grunt and tilt to his side. Next, she pulled the rifle low before pushing hard, causing it to strike him into his helmeted face.

It was bad luck on his part that the truck made a turn to circle around Azure at that same moment he was knocked away. Off-balance, Shepard stumbled backward and only managed to avoid falling by holding onto the rifle. He tried to maintain his grip on the weapon, but a straight kick the chest banished that effort, though he was able to stay on his feet and away from the edge.

Wrenching her HMWA free from him, she tried to level the barrel in his direction again.

Throwing caution to the wind, Shepard used a b iotic charge to cross the space between them in a heartbeat. He rammed his left shoulder into Vasir's abdomen and wrapped his arms around her torso. The massive impact into her wound forced the air out of lungs, eliciting a silent scream as they both flew off the truck.

Time seemed to slow down for just a moment as they both felt the sensation of weightlessness. Eventually reality, and more importantly, gravity asserted their influence and both Spectres began to fall.

"Are you insane? !" Vasir shrieked.

Shepard said nothing. Instead, he braced himself and clutched her tighter, intent on using her body as his shield.

_This still might hurt._

Vasir's backside was facing the large glass window of Azure. She never even knew what hit her until they both crashed though and rolled along the ground in a mess of shattered glass and tangled limbs into a random bedroom.

Groaning to himself, he barely heard Garrus' reports or Miranda's queries about his well-being via his radio.

_Yeah, definitely not my brightest idea…_

He took comfort in the fact that Vasir's desperate escape was foiled at least. Growling at the pain in his body, Shepard lurched back to his feet and saw Vasir was doing the same. Her rifle was nowhere to be seen.

"Don't move!" Shepard barked. He drew his HMWSG.

"Go to hell!" Vasir shouted back. She lobbed a grenade at him and ran.

Cursing under his breath, he leapt over the bed and hunkered down from the explosion.

"_Shepard? !" _Liara cried out through the ringing in his ears. _" Do you have her? !" _

"_What are you talking about?"_ Miranda incredulously asked. _"He just jumped 30 meters off a skyscraper and onto a moving truck and then we hear an explosion! John, are you okay?"_

"_Sort of,"_ he muttered back. _"Track my beacon and try to cut her off. I'm still on her heels."_

"_Don't lose her!"_ Liara said.

"_I won't,"_ he assured. Resolving to talk to Liara later about her vendetta and her skewed priorities stemming from it, he bolted out of the room and into the hallway. Various gawkers poked their heads out of their rooms .

Swiveling his head to peer down both sides, he spotted Vasir shoving past several bystanders to his left.

He raised his shotgun and fired once into the air. "Everybody get down! Now!"

The thundering boom shocked the civilians into action. Some dropped to the floor, while others ran back into their rooms. All of it served his purpose; he was able to sprint after his fleeing target without any hindrance at all.

Vasir had lost her assault rifle in the confusion of their return back to Azure, but was still armed with her own HMWSG.

The advantage was his though. The first time she tried to twist her torso to fire at him, he discouraged the idea with a blast from his own shotgun, already leveled in her direction. The power behind it caused her to pitch forward and almost knocked her off balance, even with kinetic shields protecting her.

"_We're almost to your position, Shepard!" _Jacob reported. _"We'll get her!"_

"_I need her alive!"_

"_Roger that!"_

Vasir ran as fast as her legs could carry her, but her earlier injuries from the crashed skycar began taking the i r toll. Shepard was gaining on her, occasionally firing at her retreating back and draining her kinetic barriers.

Another shot finally brought down her shields. Another impacted heavily against her armor. She staggered and had to brace herself against the wall to keep from falling over. Desperate now, she broke through the first door she could enter.

Without hesitating, Shepard ran into the room, but had to dive to the side to avoid Vasir's biotic shockwave. He slid behind a table, forced himself to his knees and returned fire.

Vasir emulated his actions and sought cover behind another table as well.

Shepard quickly looked around and saw that they were in a large ballroom which was fully decorated for some sort of reception, meeting, party or even a wedding. However, at the moment the room was thankfully devoid of anyone else, but them. Taking advantage of the open area, he swapped out his shotgun for his assault rifle. Once prepared, he lobbed a grenade to start his attack.

Vasir saw the threat and was about to use her biotics to push it back at him, but he popped out of cover and fired a short burst at her.

Knowing that her shields were still recharging, she was forced to abandon her attempt and fled her defilade just moments before the grenade blew the table apart.

Stressing his advantage, Shepard fired several short bursts, taking care not to kill her in case he struck the disc by accident now that her shields were down. That served to Vasir's advantage since she had no qualms about killing him. She slid behind another table and shot back with her own HMWSG. The distance reduced its effectiveness though, forcing her to rely more on her biotics.

Vasir's face soured at the tactical situation though. They both knew who had the upper hand. Shepard had range on her and he was no slouch in biotics, meaning anything she could throw at him could be fought back or avoided and his counter-attacks could be returned with interest.

"Time to stop running, Vasir!" Shepard shouted. "How long do you plan on doing this?"

If their positions were reversed, words like that wouldn't have work ed on him. She proved him right by tossing a grenade at him, but he counted on it. Using his tactical cloak, he vanished from sight and started to flank her. The explosion destroyed his cover, but he was already well out of the blast radius as he skulked around to get the angle on her.

"You don't know anything, Shepard! You have no idea what you're up against!" Vasir screamed back.

"I know I'm up against a second-rate asari commando!" he taunted. "If you're the best the Shadow Broker had to send, I have nothing to worry about."

She tried to hone in on where his voice was, but he preemptively took a wine glass from a random table and tossed it to another part of the room. The sound of broken glass caused her to tense up and fire a shot in the general direction of where it shattered.

He inched closer, hoping she wouldn't see his distortion.

Vasir's eyes roamed the area that Shepard had tossed the wine glass at before realizing his ploy. She abruptly stood and sprinted to the refreshment table and took cover there.

Mentally cursing her tenacity, he quickly hid behind another set of tables and frowned when his cloak wore off. It would be another minute before he could use it again.

"Nice try, Shepard," Vasir growled out. "Now it's my turn."

Again, there was the sound of broken glass, coming somewhere off to his right, but what followed was the sounds of displaced air and linen crackling as it was lit aflame.

Shepard growled under his breath when he saw another Molotov cocktail used from the alcohol table being tossed across the room. This time, it landed to his left.

_Clever move._

More Molotov's were being thrown in random places all around him . Fires erupted and soon they were everywhere and consuming everything. Within minutes, fire alarms were blaring and emergency sprinklers were activated. A general announcement called for the building's evacuation.

"_Shepard? What is that?" _Liara demanded. _"People are being forced to evacuate Azure now! Tell me you still have Vasir in your sights!"_

"_She's setting fire to the ballroom! Probably trying to flush me out, or create panic to blend in with the civilians and disappear!"_ he responded._ "Where are you?"_

"_We've been slowed down!" _Miranda answered. _"Security is all over the place, trying to herd everyone out of the building!"_

"_Don't let her escape!" _Liara pleaded.

"_I don't have any vantage point here,"_ Garrus reported. _"By the time I relocate, it'll be too late. You're on your own."_

"Let's finish this, Shepard!" Vasir called out challengingly.

"_Jacob? Sit-rep,"_ Shepard ordered. His tactical cloak was almost ready.

"_Shit, Jack's being hassled. Someone saw the news report and now I had to have Kasumi take over her post. I'm sorting it out with this asshole guard… ah, fuck it."_

The sound of someone's fist meeting flesh could be heard.

"_I could've done that," _Jack muttered.

"_Sorry man," _Jacob apologetically said.

Sighing in frustration, Shepard threw his last grenade into the refreshment table that Vasir had taken cover behind. She spotted the danger and ran before the explosion could tag her. The table exploded before bursting into more flames as the stockpile of liquor and improvised weapons Vasir had gathered was consumed.

Vanishing from sight again, Shepard stalked his target, intending to take her down before she could think of more surprises.

However, his optical camouflage couldn't handle the flickering flames and rendered his distortion poorly, creating oddly shaped bending colors to manifest.

Vasir spotted him and sneered. She used shockwave immediately.

"Damn it!" Shepard rolled to the side, just as the blasts reached him. He managed to avoid the bulk of the deadly biotic detonations, but was still launched off his feet and ungracefully landed face down. His HMWA bounced out of reach and his cloak failed in a shower of electric arcs. He quickly countered with his own shockwave. Instead of targeting her though, he aimed at the flaming table next to her.

Splinters of enkindled wood and tablecloth were blown in all directions. Vasir screamed when some of the fire tagged her. Shepard calmly let the flames wash over him, trusting in his hardsuit to protect him. Vasir was forced to shield her exposed head and blindly ran to the nearest door she could find.

Using biotic charge, he tackled Vasir from behind and crashed through the door together.

They slid along the tiled surface inside of a restroom with Vasir on the bottom, face down. Her arms and legs were scrambling to find some sort of purchase; her shotgun clattered to the side and underneath a stall. Shepard was on top and struggled to hold his position. When they finally stopped moving, he stood up and picked Vasir off the floor. She fought back with a straight elbow into his gut. He grunted from the hit and was forced to take a step back. Vasir turned around, intent on continuing her assault, but Shepard blocked her punch and countered by wrapping his hands around her head and pulled down while thrusting his knee into her injured abdomen. She screamed when he struck her weak spot.

He tried to draw his HMWP, but despite the pain she must've been in, Vasir grappled with his arms and tried to take his weapon away from him. Falling back into more human military practices, he raised his leg and stamped down on her foot, earning another scream and a weakening grip. He pushed away from her and managed to draw his pistol, but Vasir lunged and grabbed his arm.

She executed a hip toss that sent Shepard crashing to the ground. Landing with a grunt, he dropped his gun nearby. Vasir tried to pick it up, but he used his biotics to push it out of her reach. It slid underneath a sink with Vasir scrambling after it.

Wasting no time, Shepard clambered back to his feet and grabbed her shoulder, simultaneously twisting her around and pulling her back. He kicked her in the chest, knocking her backward and through the door of the restroom stall. He followed up with a straight punch towards her broken nose, but she tilted her head left, dodging him. Pushing his arm away, she grabbed the back of his helmeted head and slammed him into the ceramic toilet bowl, breaking it.

Some of micro cameras fitted inside his Kestrel Helmet went on the fritz for a second and he lost visual on the right side of his HUD before full functionality was restored. Vasir tried to ram her knee into his torso next, but he kept his arms tucked in and blocked her before pushing her back and standing upright, struggling for the upper hand inside the tiny stall.

It was too crowded to bend over and pick up Vasir's HMWSG, or even try to draw any of their larger armaments; all Vasir had was her sniper rifle, while Shepard still carried that and his shotgun as well.

Using his height and weight to his advantage, he tapped into his adrenaline implants and blocked Vasir's elbow aimed at his head. His left fist impacted against her torso again, further stressing her puncture wound. His right forearm that had blocked her attack now rammed into her throat, choking and cutting off her scream. Then, he gripped her by the shoulders, pulled her close, the n pushed as hard as he could with his synthetic adrenaline and heavy muscle microfiber weave augmenting his strength.

The result was Vasir being used as his battering ram as he viciously used her body to break through the expensive, but thin plaster walls th at separated the stalls. When she finally impacted against an unyielding wall, he savagely threw her through the doors of the stall. She stumbled and nearly fell, but caught herself on a sink.

Shepard gripped the back of her head and slammed it against the mirror, breaking it and eliciting another scream. Finally, Vasir's body was going limp. Her broken nose, punctured torso, blood loss, and other multitude s of injures were taking their toll . Her body was sluggish and limp in his hands as she fell to her knees .

He wrapped his right arm around her neck, and used his left to tighten his choke hold with the full intent o f rendering her unconscious.

Her arms flailed wildly to break free, but all her hands slapped against were his helmet and she lacked the strength to pull his arms away.

Shepard held on tight before cursing. He let Vasir go and grabbed her right arm. She had managed to reach down and recover his HMWP that was underneath the sink. His right hand was wrapped around her right wrist, forcing the barrel of the weapon away from him. She tried to use the flagging reserves of her strength to fight back, but ultimately lost when he stomped down on the back of her calf.

He banged her arm against the wall to get her to relinquish the gun. It took three tries before the pistol fell from slack fingers.

He attempted to put her back into a choke hold again, but she threw her head back with a determined howl of desperation.

The back of head impacted with his helmet. The damage to her was far worse than to him, but it was enough to knock him back and off balance. She twisted around, looped her arms around his legs and sent him crashing to the ground.

Shepard looked up to see Vasir pick up his HMWP again. She tried to level it against him, but he thrust out his arm, pointing directly at her shoulder.

Reave ripped through her armor and into the target area. She didn't even have the breath to scream this time. All she could utter was a muted gasp. The weapon fell from her hands and landed on Shepard's chest.

His right hand wrapped around the grip of the gun. He saw Vasir lunge at him.

His left arm glowed with dark energy before he used another biotic throw to send Vasir flying across the small room. She crashed into the wall.

Raising the HMWP, he fired a trio of shots into her chest from his supine position on the ground. With the damage from his reave , her armor and shields were already compromised. The bullets struck true.

Vasir looked shocked before looking down at the bullet wounds in her torso. She looked back at him with an expression of loathing as she slid down the vertical surface of the wall and slumped into a sitting position.

Shepard got back to his feet and carefully walked up to her, but it was clear that the fight was finally over. Vasir truly had nothing left.

"D-d-damn y-you," she coughed out. Dark, violet blood was leaking from the corners of her mouth. "D-damn you…"

Shepard said nothing. He picked through her pouches until his fingers closed around an OSD . Taking it away from her, he visually inspected it and frowned at the scratches and bloodstained smudges marring the surface. He used his omni-tool to check the contents and was satisfied that it was still functioning. It had the data he was after and it appeared largely intact. He knelt down next to his fellow Spectre agent.

"Y-you may have b-b-beaten me, but you and y-your friends a-are dead," Vasir said. "The S-Shadow Broker has been in power for d-decades. H-he's stronger than a-a-anything you've ever f-f-faced!"

"Then you really don't know my career all that well, Vasir," Shepard replied coolly. "Not surprising, since you sold out the Council to work for him."

She laughed sardonically at his statement before coughing. Blood splattered all over her chest plate. "Y-y-you think I b-betrayed the C-Council? Like S-Saren? Go to hell!"

"Then what is all this? You ordered the bombing of a building. You killed innocent civilians. You were prepared to assassinate one of my friends. You were going to kill me. All just to keep Liara from finding out who he is," Shepard accused.

"The B-Broker's given me damn g-g-good i-intel over the y-years. Intel that s-saved l-lives and k-k-kept the Citadel s-safe!" Vasir revealed. "S-so if the Broker n-needs a f-f-few people to d-d-disappear, I-I'll pay that p-price without h-hesitation!"

"The economic data and the slaver ring were from him then?" Shepard asked before shaking his head. "And that justifies everything you did?"

"Goddess, y-y-you're so g-g-green…" Vasir retorted. "S-spectres get our h-h-hands dirty so the Council d-doesn't have t-to. The councilor's m-might c-c-complain about o-our methods to s-sooth their consciences, b-but they never look too c-c-c-closely."

"Tell yourself whatever you like," Shepard said. "I doubt the Council sees it the same way."

"Y-y-you should look i-into a m-mirror, then," Vasir shot back with a sneer. "You're with Cerberus. D-do you have a-a-any idea what your t-terrorist f-friends have done?"

"It doesn't matter, not anymore," Shepard replied coldly.

"I think i-it does… You can't j-judge m-me. N-not when you're with a-a group that k-kidnaps kids for biotic death camps! K-killing Alliance admirals w-who ask questions! And you're with them!"

"Your info is old, Vasir, which is ironic considering who you work for. Cerberus and I cut ties a while back. And both the Council and the Alliance knew I was working with them… and that we're not working together now. That's why it doesn't matter anymore," Shepard said. "However, you're still working with the Shadow Broker and I'm willing to bet the Council doesn't know about your little 'side job'. Another difference between us, I knew exactly what Cerberus was; what they did, what they're still doing, and more importantly, what they are. What do **you** know about the Shadow Broker? The answer: Nothing."

Vasir tried to argue, but ended up coughing some more blood.

"All that intel you bought off of him? How do you know that he didn't orchestrate those events just so he could have his own personal pet Spectre in his pocket?" Shepard rhetorically asked. "Sounds too convenient. You do your job and make the Council happy and the Broker gets an enforcer with the ability to work outside the law. You and me? We're nothing alike. You don't have the first damn clue who you're sleeping with. You're wrong. I can judge you plenty."

At this point, Vasir was only barely managing weak gasps now.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this Vasir," Shepard whispered. "At the very least, I can make the end quick for you."

He pressed the barrel of his HMWP against her chest and fired twice more into her heart. Vasir exhaled once, then stilled.

Reaching out, he closed her eyes before standing up and walked away.

**~o~O~o~**

_**Author's Notes:**_

This was a hard one to write. The first few chapters were all so tame compared to this. But hey! I finished!

I really enjoyed typing up the driving part though.

Scenes were inspired by **Star Trek: Into Darkness** and **007: Casino Royal**.

Flashback Mako scene was inspired by the fanart drawn Chacou, found on Deviantart: **Galaxy's Best Driver**. Currently, used **without** permission, though I have sent him a message.

Dialogue taken from **Castle** and **Burn Notice**.

As a friendly reminder, if you have any inquiries about my progress, check out my profile page. I post any newsworthy notes there. Any questions about my fic, I'll happily answer when I get the time. Although I might not answer as well. *Wink wink*


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